The National Dolphin Research Centre (NDRC) was inaugurated on March 4, 2024 by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. It is India’s first centre for research on conserving the endangered Gangetic river dolphin.
- The NDRC is now operational and aims to assist scientists and researchers in studying Gangetic dolphins comprehensively.
Dolphin and Ganges river dolphin
- The Ganges river dolphin inhabits only the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, and nearby Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal.
- 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.
- The Ganges river dolphin can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind. They hunt by emitting ultrasonic sounds, which bounces off of fish and other prey, enabling them to “see” an image in their mind.
- Females are larger than males and give birth once every two to three years to only one calf.
- 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).
- Every year 5th October is celebrated as National Dolphin Day.
- It is a national aquatic animal of India.
