Irrawaddy Dolphin

Irrawaddy Dolphin Latest News

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recently launched the second nationwide range-wide estimation of riverine and estuarine dolphins under Project Dolphin, which, for the first time, includes the estimation of the Irrawaddy dolphin in the Sundarbans and in Odisha.

About Irrawaddy Dolphin

• It is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in discontinuous subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia.
  • Euryhaline organisms survive in a range of salinity. These organisms thrive in saltwater, freshwater, and brackish water.
• Scientific Name: Orcaella brevirostris

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Irrawaddy Dolphin Habitat and Distribution

• It is found in three rivers in South and Southeast Asia: the Irrawaddy (Myanmar), the Mahakam (Kalimatan, Indonesia), and the Mekong (Cambodia). 
• Indian presence: Occurs mainly in Chilika Lake (Odisha); also reported in the Sundarbans region.
• Irrawaddy dolphins prefer coastal areas, particularly muddy, brackish waters at river mouths and deltas, and do not appear to venture far offshore.

Irrawaddy Dolphin Features

• It has an instantly recognisable, charismatic rounded face and head with no beak; they look like baby belugas, only with a dorsal fin. 
• They have expressive faces thanks to their moveable lips and have creases around their necks as they are able to move their heads in all directions. 
• They are grey all over but lighter on the belly.  
• The dorsal fin is small; their flippers are long and large, with curved leading edges and rounded tips, and their tails are also large.
• Irrawaddy dolphins have narrow, pointed, peg-like teeth about 1 cm in length in both the upper and lower jaws. 

Irrawaddy Dolphin Conservation Status

It is classified as ‘Endangered‘ under the IUCN Red List.

Source: NIE