There are only a few places on the planet where these unusual dolphins live. They are not only river, but also their skin color is pink. These animals have two other names: bowto and inii. The question of where these primordial inhabitants of salty sea waters came from in fresh waters is still open.
Such dolphins are born not at all pink, but light gray. But as they grow older, their skin color turns pink or, less often, blue. Inyi are albinos by nature, however, their shape and size are the same as those of other mammals of the suborder Toothed whales.
In size, pink whales reach 2.5 - 3 meters. Males are larger than females. And also females have a lighter shade, while the color of males is more saturated and bright. Body weight is about two hundred kilograms. The skin color of the iniev also differs depending on their habitat: lake representatives are slightly darker, river ones - on the contrary, lighter.
There are very few river dolphins left, they are listed in the Red Book. Except in the Amazon. They also live in the Indian Ganges, Pakistani Indus, the waters of the Rio de La Plata between Argentina and Uruguay. In total, scientists have four species of river dolphins. And it is the Amazonian ones that are the largest.
The pink dolphins living in the Amazon feed mainly on fish, turtles and crustaceans. Their elongated body ends in a beak curved downward. It is thanks to this beak that it is convenient for dolphins to find crayfish at the bottom or to catch fish from branches and algae. Dolphins' cervical vertebrae are not fused together, so animals can turn their head in relation to their own body 90 degrees. This gives such relatively large inhabitants of the Amazonian watery space the agility.
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Scientists conducted a DNA analysis of the Iniev and found that it was the river dolphins that separated from their common ancient ancestors faster than their marine counterparts. There is one theory about how the dolphins ended up in freshwater. According to her, earlier the territory of the sea was more extensive, then it gradually decreased, in some places transforming into lakes and rivers. Dolphins were in no hurry to go into the depths of the sea, but remained in their former territories. Gradually getting used to the new conditions, they remained to swim in fresh water. And even now, when every spring the Amazon overflows its shores and in some places connects to the sea, dolphins do not swim anywhere.
Although for a while females swim deep into the forest - most likely. So they hide from aggressive males. Before the onset of the mating season - then they leave their shelters. In general, these dolphins are rather unfriendly even towards each other. And even more so, to a person. They are very difficult to train, they do not live long in captivity - no more than three years.
During the mating season, males demonstrate an unusual dance. They take a bunch of plants or a piece of wood in their beak and begin to circle around their axis and be what is in the beak through the water. Previously, local residents had no idea why pink dolphins perform such an unusual ritual. Later it turned out that in this way they attract the attention of not only females, but also other males. As a rule, a fight ensued between them, which could end in very severe and deep wounds.
While researchers are looking for explanations about the origin of pink dolphins, locals keep legends about how at night pink dolphins turn into beautiful young men and invite gullible girls to them.