Hobbies And Interests
Identification
The first thing you notice about the pink dolphin is its stunning pink color and its large humpback. resulting in a very odd-shaped aquatic animal. Body length in this mammal runs from 7 to 10 feet, and the average weight is around 200 lb. These dolphins are known to interact with humans, and there have been stories of capsized boaters being pushed ashore by the friendly "river beast."
Habitat
While the gray dolphin can exist in both freshwater and saltwater, the pink dolphin is truly a freshwater swimmer. As a result, the gray dolphin frequents the mouth of the Amazon, while the pink dolphin can be found midriver, in the upper Amazon basin in Peru and along the nearby Orinoco. Pink dolphins are much less gregarious than the coastal gray dolphin, possibly because they have no natural predator except man. Sometimes, gillnetters snare pink dolphins.
Diet
The pink dolphin's diet consists mainly of small fish, along with a few crustaceans and small turtles.The fish in this dolphin's diet vary widely, for the pink dolphin is not very choosy about what it eats. As a result, the dolphin has developed a set of powerful jaws and armor-piercing teeth that are capable of tearing apart the bony any spiny fish of the South American river. Even catfish are a popular item on this colorful dolphin's menu.
How They Hunt
The pink dolphin like many cetaceans -- toothed whales and dolphins -- hunts by sonar location. The pink dolphin sends out sonar noises to locate prey swimming in the water. Return echoes may indicate the close proximity of an edible fish. It is believed that the extraordinary long jaw and beak of the dolphin act as antennae in tracking the echoes of swimming fish.