Pink Dolphins - How Did They Become Endangered?

You may wonder how did pink dolphins becomemining process. This is killing the pink dolphins at a rapid
endangered. As with most every other endangeredrate.
species on our fragile planet, the finger can be pointedThe increased traffic upon the waterways plays
squarely at people. Man and his impact upon thehavoc with the pink dolphins' delicate guidance and
environment is directly to blame for the endangermentnavigation system, resulting in many accidental deaths
of this unusual and beautiful mammal.of this magnificent creature. The construction of
Pink dolphins are only distantly related to their oceanseveral dams along the waterways will result in the
going cousins and live in the rivers of the Amazondolphin pods being cut off from one another, further
rainforest and can also be found in the Orinoco andlowering their breeding rates.
Madeira rivers in South America and in the Pearl RiverFishing is another cause of pink dolphins becoming
in Hong Kong.endangered. The dolphins become entangled in the
They are the friendliest of the five sub-species offishermen's nets and the fishermen view them as
dolphins and it is reported that their pink colouration iscompetition for their catch. They either drown as a
due to the large amount of crustaceans that theyresult of becoming entangled in the nets or they are
consume. It is reported that their numbers arekilled by the fishermen to prevent them eating all their
decreasing at a rate of 10% per annum, with thefish.
biggest culprit being degradation and pollution of theirThe reasons why pink dolphins have become
natural environment. River contamination is one of theendangered are many and we can only hope that
most serious causes, with gold mining spewing outman will see the error of his ways before these
large amounts of mercury as a by-product of theamazing creatures are forced into extinction.