AN INTRODUCTION TO RIVER DOLPHIN SPECIES - Biology, Evolution and Conservation of River Dolphins Within South America and Asia - page 18

The major threat to Inia boliviensis is entanglement in fishing nets (Aliaga-Rossel, 2002),
although commercial fishing is not as extensive as in adjacent countries. However, Ruiz-
García observed that some Bolivian Indians occasionally consume Inia (California in one
affluent of the Guapore River). Other threats include deforestation (Sayer & Whitmore,
1991), boat traffic (Pillieri & Gihr, 1977), phosphorus loading (Maurice-Bourgoin, 1999),
mercury from mining activities (Dolbec et al., 2001), construction of hydroelectric dams (da
Silva, 1995), gas exploration, and overfishing. The existence of a severe bottleneck
determined by microsatellite analysis makes it difficult for Inia boliviensis to effectively deal
with these anthropogenic factors. It's unfortunate that no conservation law in Bolivia
specifically targets this species (although the Beni Department in the past year, 2008,
declared the Bolivian pink river dolphin as emblematic and a protected species), but there are
four protected areas such as the Beni Biological Biosphere Reserve that provide some shelter.
As a group, Inia are listed as vulnerable by the International union for Conservation of Nature
and Natural Resources. There is still of paucity a data for this species including a lack of
population size estimates. Aliaga-Rossel's chapter 3 addresses research and conservation
priorities for this species.
Taxonomy: of Inia boliviensis
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Suborder: Odontoceti ―toothed whales‖
Family: Iniidae
Genus: Inia
Species: Inia boliviensis (1817)
Platanista gangetica gangetica (Susa, Ganges River Dolphin, Water-Hog,
Shushuk)
Platanista gangetica within the Platanistidae family is the only extant species of a once
abundant and diversified Platanistoidea superfamily. Barnes et al.'s chapter 23 discusses the
evolutionary history and phylogenetic relationships of this superfamily covering Platanistidae
and the extinct families Allodelphinidae, Squalodontidae, Waipatiidae, and
Squalodelphinidae. There are two subspecies of the Ganges River dolphin ( Platanista
gangetica gangetica and Platanista gangetica minor ) but molecular phylogenetic studies
support that they are quite similar (Guang & Kaiya, 1999) and therefore they are of the same
species (see Sinha et al.'s chapter 22). General characteristics of the Ganges River dolphin are
its brown color, long-pointed snout, and extremely small, pin-hole eyes (Figure 8). Adults
have a body length of approximately 2.0-2.2 m and 2.4-2.6 m for males and females
respectively, with an average weight of 70-90 kg. Similar to other river dolphins, their
distribution pattern is partly due to the abundance of their prey: small fish, crustaceans, and
snails (Sinha, 2006).