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Ganges River Dolphin
India's National Aquatic Animal — a nearly blind freshwater dolphin that "sees" the muddy Ganga and Brahmaputra entirely by sound.
How to spot it
A stocky grey-brown freshwater dolphin with a long, narrow, forceps-like snout full of fine teeth, a low ridge in place of a true fin, and tiny eyes that lack a lens — it is effectively blind. It surfaces with a soft puff, showing the snout or back.
Where it lives
The Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna and Karnaphuli river systems of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. It lives only in fresh water and prefers deep, slow stretches and river junctions.
What it eats
A carnivore that hunts fish and shrimp in water far too muddy to see through, navigating and finding prey entirely by echolocation — firing out clicks and reading the echoes. It often swims on its side, trailing a flipper along the bottom.
Behaviour & life
Usually seen alone or in small, loose groups rather than the big pods of sea dolphins, and it must surface every few minutes to breathe. Because it depends on clear channels and healthy fish stocks, it is a living gauge of a river's health.
In India
Declared India's National Aquatic Animal and protected under Schedule I, yet classed as Endangered — threatened by dams that carve up the rivers, by pollution and by entanglement in fishing nets. Project Dolphin now works to protect it and its river home.
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