All articles tagged with #river dolphins
Severe heatwaves and droughts in the Amazon have caused lakes to heat up beyond 40°C, leading to mass die-offs of endangered river dolphins and fish, with lakes shrinking significantly and temperatures rising faster than the global average, highlighting the urgent impact of climate change on these ecosystems.
The carcasses of 120 river dolphins, including the endangered pink dolphins, have been found floating in a tributary of the Amazon River, with experts suspecting that severe drought and heat are to blame. Low river levels during the drought have heated the water to intolerable temperatures for the dolphins, while a lack of oxygen has also caused the death of thousands of fish in the region. The slow reproductive cycles of the Amazon river dolphins make their populations particularly vulnerable to such threats. Environmental activists have attributed the unusual conditions to climate change, although the exact role of global warming in the current Amazon drought remains unclear. Efforts are underway to determine the cause of death and rescue any surviving dolphins.