From the depths of the Amazon river... amazing images of giant, bubblegum pink dolphins

These never-before-seen pictures of bubblegum pink Amazon river dolphins are a fascinating glimpse into the behaviour of these elusive creatures.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/28e039fb727e.jpg[/atsimg]

The Amazon river dolphin has about 100 peg-like front teeth for catching prey and it mainly eats crustaceans, crabs, small turtles, catfish, piranhas, and other fish

Unlike their playful cousin, 'Flipper', these dolphins live in the murky, sediment covered depths of the giant Amazon river 50 miles south of the city of Manaus and are in fact freshwater creatures. Captured on film over a total of three weeks, the dolphins distinctive pink colouring develops with age and is exaggerated by the red silty Amazonian water. Swimming with up to six of the nearly blind, seven foot long pink dolphins, Kevin braved the parasitic, piranha-infested waters of the world's largest river in search of that perfect shot.

Scientists do not exactly know why these dolphins are pink. However, they believe that the pink coloration could be credited in part to the dolphin's diet of crabs and shell fish, which have a red pigment in their muscle tissues, and to the silt-filled river water which is virtually impenetrable to sunlight. As time progresses, the pigment gets built in the skin of the dolphin and imparts pink coloration to the skin.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk...


I swear I learn about 10 new things a day at ATS. These things are just cool to see. I never knew they even existed for that matter. Enjoy

Stupid corrupt judge repealed 3 injuctions to block a new hydroelectric dam(Belo Monte) to be constructed.

Avatar's Cameron put his influence and Titanic-beating popularity to try and block it too, but failed.

Even Hollywood's weight couldn't stop the corruption.

Brazilian goverment has yet another dam in planning stages besides the one just approved...

Amazon is being destroyed, continuous tree logging difficult to stop, river's natural courses being altered by dams and previously dry areas inundated, medicinal plants with anticancer compounds driven to extinction...

I'm sorry for slight derailment of your thread, the events of this week down here really got to me.....

what I imply here with all this rant is that species like this might soon disappear if biologists don't take note and start preserving as many species and plants as possible.

The anti greenhouse CO2 scientists don't care about more urgent environmental issues it seems.

reply to post by anon72


Awesome. The Chinese river dolphins are extinct already. So these maybe the last underwater photos of the Amazon river dolphins.

'That involved appreciating that the river dolphins were in fact almost blind and navigate almost entirely by sonar. 'That is why they bob and weave their heads so much, sending out signals to direct their movements.' Believed to have lived in the Amazon for tens of thousands of years, the river dolphins have followed a different evolutionary path. 'The water is so dense with silt that has flowed down from the Andes that they evolved to not use their eyes. 'This also cause them to develop their distinctive pink skin, which begins as quite greyish when they are young, but develops over the years to the stark bubblegum pink colour that you can see.' Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

Cool discovery and a nice smile on that picture, I always thought pink dolphins were a rare freak of nature

Interesting that they found a whole new pink species of these wonderful creatures.

And don't let the Japanese find out.

[edit on 22-4-2010 by Grey Magic]

Those Dolphins are part of our Brazilian Folklore. They are called "Boto Rosa" around here.

To put it in as few words as possible, the folklore talks about how the Boto Rosa can turn into a handsome man who uses his charm to lure women.

I guess you could say it's our version of the mermaid. But instead of luring men, we prefer to lure women. =P

Originally posted by jjjtir
Stupid corrupt judge repealed 3 injuctions to block a new hydroelectric dam(Belo Monte) to be constructed.

As I said in the proper thread that it would happen. Our president has an army of more than 100 lawyers who are smirking at any attempt to block the building of the DAM.

Avatar's Cameron put his influence and Titanic-beating popularity to try and block it too, but failed.

Even Hollywood's weight couldn't stop the corruption.

Hollywood weight? Are you freaking kidding me? I think you are confusing US with Brazil. We(Brazil) are NOT a country ruled by zionists. Hollywood does nothing around here except selling movies and that's it.

Brazilian goverment has yet another dam in planning stages besides the one just approved...

Yup. And we will keep building as many as we need. Do you think your country is the only one with the right to invest in energy production?

Amazon is being destroyed, continuous tree logging difficult to stop

That is a huge issue. I agree with you. Actually, the main issue and it has nothing to do with the building of the DAM of Belo Monte.

[qupte] river's natural courses being altered by dams and previously dry areas inundated, medicinal plants with anticancer compounds driven to extinction...

Don't worry. US and Japan are well infiltrated in our forest with the excuse of helping the indian people. So much that those areas infiltrated by US and Japan are out of reach for us, brazilians. We actually have to show them our passports to even try to enter those territories. OUR territory. I can't wait to see when we're going ot kick them out of here. That is outrageous.

I'm sorry for slight derailment of your thread, the events of this week down here really got to me.....

yeah, we really shouldnt be discussing it here.

what I imply here with all this rant is that species like this might soon disappear if biologists don't take note and start preserving as many species and plants as possible.

The DAM of Belo Monte wont affect the Boto Rosas. Their main threat is illegal fishing. Unfortunatelly, the states covered by the Amazon Forest are not as economically developed as the coastal area of Brazil. Without properly populating and developing that area, it will always be just some far away land where anything goes.

And that's the hard thing. We need to invest in those areas, to bring more people to live there and balance that with preserving the forest.

Lets see if our next president will do more about it than Lula did.

[edit on 22-4-2010 by henriquefd]