{"id":10323,"date":"2025-03-04T01:39:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T20:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=10323"},"modified":"2025-03-29T19:34:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T14:04:17","slug":"about-gangetic-dolphin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/about-gangetic-dolphin\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Facts about Gangetic Dolphin"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Gangetic Dolphin Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>The first ever estimate of Gangetic dolphins, the only riverine dolphins in India, has found 6,327 of them in the river Ganga and its tributaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>About Gangetic Dolphin<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>freshwater species <\/strong>and <strong>one of the few river dolphins<\/strong> found in the world.<\/li>\n<li>It inhabits the <strong>Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna<\/strong> and <strong>Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems<\/strong> of <strong>Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>C<strong>ommon Names:<\/strong> Blind dolphin, Ganges dolphin, Ganges <strong>susu<\/strong>, hihu, side-swimming dolphin, South Asian River Dolphin<\/li>\n<li>Scientific name: Platanista gangetica<\/li>\n<li>As an indicator of the health of the freshwater ecosystem, the Ganges River Dolphin has been recognized by the government of India as its <strong>National Aquatic Animal.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Gangetic Dolphin Features<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A long, <strong>thin snout<\/strong>, rounded belly,<strong> stocky body, <\/strong>and <strong>large flippers <\/strong>are characteristics of the Ganges River dolphin.<\/li>\n<li>It weighs up to 150 kg.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The calves are chocolate brown at birth and become <strong>grayish brown in adulthood <\/strong>with a smooth and hairless skin.<\/li>\n<li>Females are larger than males. The maximum size of a female is 2.67 m and of a male 2.12 m.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It feeds majorly on fishes and is <strong>usually found in counter-current systems<\/strong> of the main river channel.<\/li>\n<li>Its <strong>eyes lack lens,<\/strong> and as a result, this species is also referred to as the &#8220;<strong>blind dolphin&#8221;.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>They have a<strong> highly developed bio-sonar system <\/strong>that facilitates them <strong>to hunt<\/strong> for fish even in murky waters.<\/li>\n<li>They<strong> emit an ultrasonic sound <\/strong>which <strong>reaches the prey<\/strong>. The dolphin then <strong>registers this image in its mind<\/strong> and subsequently catches hold of its prey.<\/li>\n<li>Being a mammal, the Ganges River dolphin <strong>cannot breathe in the water<\/strong> and must surface every 30-120 seconds.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because of the sound it produces<\/strong> when breathing, the animal is popularly <strong>referred to as the &#8216;Susu&#8217;.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Gangetic Dolphin Conservation Status<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>IUCN: Endangered<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Wildlife (Protection) Act: Schedule-I\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>CITES: Appendix I<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Gangetic Dolphin FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1<\/strong>. Where is Gangetic Dolphin found in India?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans<\/strong>. The distribution range of the Ganges river dolphins in India covers seven states namely, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2<\/strong>. Which is the National Aquatic Animal of India?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans<\/strong>. Gangetic Dolphin<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3<\/strong>. What is the IUCN status of Gangetic Dolphin?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans<\/strong>. Endangered<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/first-estimate-of-gangetic-dolphins-finds-6327-across-four-states\/article69286367.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gangetic Dolphin is a freshwater species and one of the few river dolphins found in the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}