CONSERVATION OF THE RIVER DOLPHIN (INIA BOLIVIENSIS) IN BOLIVIA - Biology, Evolution and Conservation of River Dolphins Within South America and Asia - page 59

River (Beni Sub-Basin), tourist companies offer swimming experiences with River dolphins,
taking tourists to the Yacuma River (Mamore Sub-Basin). Informal interviews with fisherman
and local people by the author indicate that there are no bufeos in the Rivers of these Sub-
Basins.
There are studies determining the abundance of the bufeo in Bolivia (Table 1). In 2007
the Omacha Foundation (Colombia) and Faunagua (Bolivia) started a program to determine
the abundance of bufeo in South America, which is the largest survey carried out in Bolivia.
However to date, these data are not yet published.
Table 1. Population Density (PD) of Inia as individuals per square kilometer within
rivers, sub-basins and departments of Bolivia.

Rivers Sub-Basin Department PD (ind/km²) Study

Ibaré Mamoré Beni 1.0 Pilleri 1969; Pilleri & Gihr

1977
Aliaga-Rossel & Quevedo (in
prep)

0.2

Ichilo Mamoré Cochabamba 0.25 Pilleri & Gihr 1977

Ichilo-Mamore Mamoré Cochabamba-

Beni

0.88 Omacha-Faunagua

unpublished data 2008

Mamoré Mamoré Beni 1.6 (dry season) Aliaga-Rossel et al. 2006

Tijamuchi Mamoré Beni 1.12 (all seasons);

5.8 (dry Season)

Aliaga-Rossel 2000, 2002;
Aliaga-Rossel et al. 2006

Apere Mamoré Beni 2.9 (dry season) Aliaga-Rossel et al. 2006

Rapulo Mamoré Beni 2.6 (dry season) Aliaga-Rossel et al. 2006

Yacuma Mamoré Beni 2.4 (dry season) Aliaga-Rossel et al. 2006

Iténez Iténez Santa Cruz 1.57 Omacha-Faunagua

unpublished data 2008

Irupurupuru Iténez Beni 1.17 Pilleri & Gihr 1977

Blanco Iténez Beni 1.62 Salinas 2007

San Martin Iténez Beni 0.74 Salinas 2007

Research on Inia in Bolivia

Only a handful of Bolivian bufeo studies have been conducted and published. The first
study was conducted by Pilleri, (1969) in the Mamore River, and described the morphology
of collected individuals, estimated abundance and compared the behavior of individuals
collected in Bolivia with those in Venezuela. Van Bree & Robineau, (1973) compared the
morphology of the River dolphins I.g. geoffrensis and I.g. boliviensis . They suggested the
presence of I.g. geoffrensis in the Abuná sub-basin, and the other subspecies (now Inia
boliviensis ) in the Mamore and Itenez sub-basins. However, this proposal was not accepted
due its lack of comprehensive morphometric and genetic data (Anderson, 1997). Pilleri &
Gihr, (1977) surveyed the Ichilo River from Puerto Villarroel to Mamore and
morphologically compared Venezuelan and Bolivian individuals and suggested that the
Bolivian bufeo was a new species ( Inia boliviensis ). Also, Anderson's topic of Bolivian
mammals (1997) provides a limited description of the river dolphin distributions based on
collections.