Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupendra Yadav informed that Standing Committee of the National Board for Wild has recommended to celebrate October 5th as National Dolphin Day every year.
- The decision was taken at the 67th meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wild Life.
About Dolphin
- Dolphins act as ideal ecological indicators of a healthy aquatic ecosystem and conservation of the Dolphins will, therefore, benefit the survival of the species and also, the people dependent on the aquatic system for their livelihood.
- The Ganges dolphin is a Schedule I animal under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, and has been included in Annexure – I of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
- The Indus and Ganges River dolphins are both classified as ‘Endangered’ species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- No tissue or sample of the Ganges dolphin can be transferred to foreign countries without getting CITES permission from the Competent Authority of Government of India.
- The Ganges river dolphin inhabits only the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, and nearby Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal.
Dolphins are mammals
- Dolphins are mammals, not fish. Also, dolphins are different than “dolphinfish,” which are also known as mahi-mahi. Like every mammal, dolphins are warm blooded.
- Unlike fish, who breathe through gills, dolphins breathe air using lungs. Dolphins must make frequent trips to the surface of the water to catch a breath.
- Other characteristics of dolphins that make them mammals rather than fish are that they give birth to live young rather than laying eggs and they feed their young with milk. Also, like all mammals, dolphins even have a tiny amount of hair, right around the blowhole.
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