Inia (or bowto) lives in Brazil. This Amazonian dolphin has a very original color: from pale blue to reddish pink. There are some changes in colors - with blackish and redder shades. The Amazonian dolphin lives exclusively in fresh water, for this it is called river. This is a fairly large mammal from the toothed whale suborder, distributed in all areas of the Amazon, including small rivers and lakes. And when the water rose, these creatures swim from one channel of the river to another, changing their environment.
Amazonian dolphin. Description
As a rule, these animals are not prone to group existence. Only during periods when reproduction is taking place. A special hierarchy in them, according to the testimony of researchers of the animal world of the Amazon, is also not observed. These mammals are active day and night. By the way, like all dolphins, inii never sleep. That is, only one hemisphere of the dolphin brain rests, and the second is awake, allowing the dolphin not to suffocate in the depths of the water. Indeed, in order to live, the Amazonian river dolphin must emerge to the surface and inhale every 2-3 minutes. And then the left, then the right hemisphere rests on average 5-6 hours a day. The body of the animal is full, flat out to the tail. It is almost perfectly streamlined. The muzzle is narrow and long. Beak is characteristic, slightly bent down, and rather sharp teeth.
Color
It changes with dolphins as they grow older. So, youth is grayish-blue with a light belly. In adults, the belly is almost white, and the back is pink or pale blue. Those individuals that live in the lakes are much darker than their river counterparts.
Height, weight, speed
The Amazon Dolphin is the largest of the freshwater ones. The length of adult males reaches two and a half meters. But on average - about two. Females are a bit smaller. The weight of an adult can reach more than 200 kilograms (on average - more than a hundred). The Amazonian dolphin (the Latin name is Inia geoffrensis) swims much slower than the sea and ocean cetaceans: the average speed is 3-5 kilometers per hour. But it can develop the maximum - 22. And when swimming, dive and rather well maneuver.
Food
The Amazonian dolphin (photo above) feeds mainly on small fish. Sometimes it allows itself to feast on small turtles and crabs in shallow water. At the same time, he is quite voracious, and can eat over 12 kilograms of food per day.
Amazon Dolphin Vision
The eyeballs of this mammal are not like the eyes of other cetaceans that live in a marine or ocean environment. Inini and the lens and cornea have acquired a yellow color, which protects from the bright sun. Whereas in bottlenose dolphins, for example, the eyes are adapted to pick up even the weakest light. This, like the crystalline lens moved deeper in, indicates a predisposition to surface rather than water vision. But these assumptions are not confirmed by the structure of the neck and vertebrae of the Amazon dolphin, so that the vision of a river mammal can confuse some scientists.
Number, population
Inia is the most abundant freshwater dolphin species. Although recently in the book of endangered animals has a "vulnerable" status. The range of the mammal remains quite stable, compared, for example, with the declining number of lake dolphins. Determining the number of individuals is very difficult, since the ini live in hard-to-reach areas. But presumably populations number tens of thousands of individuals. The abundance of this species is greatly influenced by human activities: the construction of dams, fishing. So, for example, dams interfere with the migration of pink dolphins, reducing genetic diversity. And deforestation of the Amazon and water pollution by pesticides and waste from mines for the extraction of ore and gold have an additional negative impact.
Breeding
Inii males are often covered by bite marks and scars - this is how males compete for the right to possess a female. Mating is violent, pregnancy is long - eleven months. Then the only cub is born (childbirth lasts up to 5 hours). Birth is accompanied by pushing the baby to the surface, which is produced by the female so that he breathes air. Otherwise, the child may die. The weight of the newborn is about 7 kilograms. All this happens in early June, when the water in the ecosystem rises as high as possible. Before its fall, females with children remain in the flooded plains, and males can return to the rivers. They feed milk to babies, which is much more nutritious than cow or human milk, and in order for the cub not to be able to suck (dolphins do not have mobile lips, like many mammals), they feed themselves by a system of milk injection under water invented by nature. Children stay near their mothers up to 3 years and eat breast milk for a year.
Myths and legends
Inia, or bouto (called the Amazonian dolphin in the local dialect), is quite popular with Brazilian Indians. They do not kill him and do not use it for food, treating with deep respect. And not only because the meat of the river dolphin is rather sinewy and tough, the fat is not enough, and the skin will fit only for the manufacture of shields. The locals have legends and fairy tales about this mammal, transmitted from generation to generation. The image of iniya is interpreted as an evil sorceress who can lure young and inexperienced aborigines to her abyss to destroy. According to legends, in this form, inia even appears on the streets, and many people have been addicted and follow magina for centuries. And time after time, Iniya embraces the chosen victims and disappears in the waves of the river with a victorious cry. Therefore, among the Indians of the Amazon, especially the Amazon dolphin will not be killed, unless by pure chance. But even then it is necessary to perform certain rituals in order to avoid trouble. And although dolphin fat is quite suitable to burn, for example, in primitive native lamps, no one will use such a light source, in order to avoid troubles that can fall on an Indian.