Brazil’s Pink River Dolphin: A victim of the Amazon’s man-handling.

Brazil’s pink river dolphin is now classified as one of the most endangered species on earth and is set to follow the sad footsteps of the extinct black rhino if nothing is done.

The pink river dolphin, also known as Boto, lives only in freshwater and can be found, or rather soon to be not found, throughout most of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. But why is it currently under threat when it lives in what humans are calling the ‘lungs of the earth’?

Boto, like many other species native to the Amazon, is under threat because of the continuous man-handling done by humans to the Amazon. We might call it the ‘lungs of the earth’ but we sure as hell don’t treat it like it is. The pink river dolphin is currently classified as endangered because of contamination to rivers and lakes, which is done by, you guessed it, humans.

It feels like every second news story these days is about one species or another becoming extinct, and sadly it’s the truth. This year the world saw that Africa’s black rhino has not been seen in so long that it was classified as extinct.

But Boto is not the only river dolphin under threat. In China’s famous Yangtze River its native dolphin has not been seen in years and, just like the black rhino, is also assumed extinct. The Yangtze river dolphin’s extinction is due to pollution of China’s river, hunting, and an assortment of other atrocities done by humans that always lead to the extinction of an entire species.

At this rate most wild animals are going to be classified as extinct within a number of years. So how long will it be until we’re telling our children stories of tigers and dolphins as though they are mythical creatures?

Taylor-Jayne Wilkshire

Source:http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/amazon-river-dolphin

image; foter.com