June 2007 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society

fins & tales June 2007
(Continued from page 6)
by highway coach … you do the math, and oh yes
did I mention that the Air/Con in the bus failed?
Endurance and perseverance are hallmarks to any
pursuit, am I right?
We were buoyed by reports that the river dolphins
were indeed being regularly sighted with the help
of local fishermen. Fresh upon our sweaty arrival
we were confronted with posters and tour touts all
forecasting success in the nearby waters. The poster
photos always showed the animal perched on its
pectoral fins in what appeared a shallow rapids or
riffle. I wasn’t going to miss that. Again one hundred
was the magic number of remaining dolphins
and it bode well (they said), that we arrived in the
dry season as the river level was lowered in depth
by some 3 meters or more.
What we found instead was that the Irrawaddy are
quiet, secretive animals and that seeking them out
in their few remaining habitats involves patience,
resolve and luck. It was a similar experience to
whale watching tours in Atlantic Canada and elsewhere.
We traveled firstly by a steadily worsening
road a further 15 km upriver to the village of
Kampi and hired a small wooden ‘longtail’ boat
(yes lucky number 13 was proudly displayed on the
bow) to ply the remarkably clear waters just out
from the river’s edge. The boat engine was
equipped with a prop-guard to protect against inadvertent
injury to the dolphins; apparently a new development
for these boats. The waterscape was dotted
with sandy islands as well as rocky outcroppings,
but the Irrawaddy were reputed to like this
particular spot for the deep water holes within the
river bottom that offered both refuge and a supply
of fish and crustaceans upon which to feed.
The Kampi population numbers between 25 and 35
Irrawaddy and has only 5 known sister populations
further upstream toward the Laos border, all of
them even smaller in numbers. The dolphins oddly
enough have depleted largely because of drowning.
Being mammals they need to breathe air through
their top mounted blow-hole and should they get
caught up in a gill net they succumb within minutes.
It seems the locals also had a penchant for
dynamite fishing and that practice took its toll.
Then throw a 14 month gestation period and largely
single births into the story and one can see why
their numbers are threatened. The Mekong river
dolphins are Orcaella brevirostris (orca as in
whale, brevi as in brief or short, and rostris as in
nose … ergo a short nosed whale) and are similar to
Beluga whales. They begin life as a 1 meter youngster
and top out between 2.1 and 2.6 meters in
length. They seem gentle and calm albeit distant.
Our boatman was careful not to ‘chase’ the dolphins
we spotted, turning off his engine and quietly
sculling us with a large rear mounted oar in their
direction. We spotted several pods of two and three
animals as they surfaced. It was a true joy to ob-
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Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society
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