Image from Slide Show of Album

Types of Endangered Dolphins

There are many different types of dolphins in the world that are endangered. Here are most of them:

• Pink Dolphin
• Irrawady Dolphin
• Baiji(Chinese White Dolphin)
• Hector's Dolphin
• Amazon River Dolphin
• Indopacific Humpback Dolphin
• Dusky Dolphin
• Striped Dolphin
• Tucuxi Dolphin(pronounced 'tookooshee')

All of these dolphins have each been decreased by about 40 percent or more over the past 3 years. Here are some of the main reasons:

1. Loss of habitat
2. Pollution
3. Over fishing
4. Illegal hunting

Some more specific reasons are...

Two Beautiful Pink Dolphins

Image from Discovery Bay Yacht Club

Pink Dolphins

Only about 100 pink dolphins live in rivers in Hong Kong. This is maknly because of over- fishing and polution poured into the Pearl River. Giving birth has reduced with many of the calves not living to adulthood.

An Irrawaddy Dolphin

Image from Hand-in-Hand, Save the Whales and Dolphins

Irrawaddy Dolphins

Irrawaddy Dolphins are very endangered. Why? Many fishermen and observers say that the use of explosives to fish and nets for fishing kill irrawaddy dolphins by "exploding" them and drowning them when they get stuck in nets and are unable to reach the surface for air.

A Baiji River Dolphin

Image from Galerie of Cetaceans

Baiji Dolphin

This type of dolphin is endangered because of pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing, and too much traffic in the rivers. Too much traffic causes the dolphins to get killed by boat propellors and the sounds that boats make mix with the baiji dolphin's echolocation so that it gets confused. This causes them to be unable to find food in the river, so they starve to death.