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Dams drove an Asian dolphin extinct. They could do the same in the Amazon
The tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), a river dolphin endemic to the Amazon, has been declared endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning all the world’s freshwater dolphins are now at threat of extinction.
The species faces the same threats as another Amazonian cetacean, the pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), ranging from hydropower dams, to bycatch, to mercury poisoning.
Researchers warn that if these threats intensify, the Amazon’s dolphins could go the way of the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) in China, which is now considered extinct following a dam-building spree along the Yangtze.
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High Numbers of Sperm Whales Counted off Irish West Coast in New Study
10th December 2020
Sperm whale at surface
Credit: Simon Berrow
Up to 380 sperm whales are living in deep waters off the Irish coast, a newly published study has found.
This makes sperm whales “one of the most abundant great whale species” in these waters, expert Dr Simon Berrow says.
Sperm whales are known for their distinctive echolocation “clicks” which can be heard over many tens of kilometres, and this allows them to be counted.
A survey team from Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) and the Scottish Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) Consulting spent 45 days at sea in harsh weather conditions to conduct the population count.
Sperm whales photographed by the Irish Aer Corps
An estimated population of 380 sperm whales has been discovered in waters deeper than 300m off Ireland’s western shores.
Sperm whales are one of the most abundant great whale species in the deep waters of offshore Ireland, according to a new study by the Scotland-based Sea Mammal Research Unit Consulting (SMRU Consulting) and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT). The study, published recently in the Journal of Cetacean Research and Management,
Principal Investigator at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology of the ObSERVE Acoustic project Dr Simon Berrow of GMIT said: “The survey team spent a total of 45 days at sea, covering an area of some 120,000 km2 in weather conditions that make the hardiest of seamen queasy. With high sea states and towering swell, the study relied purely on being able to detect the distinctive powerful click trains of sperm whales using a streamlined towed hydrophone (underwater microphone) array