Aragualan River Dolphin

Araguaian river dolphin by Rio Cicica

Araguaian river dolphin

The Araguaian river dolphin or Araguaian boto  is a South American river dolphin population native to the Araguaia–Tocantins basin of Brazil.

The recognition of I. araguaiaensis as a distinct species is still debated. It was originally distinguished from the Amazon river dolphin in January 2014. On the basis of nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA data as well as differences in skull morphology (it generally has a wider skull). It also differs from the Amazon and Bolivian river dolphins in the number of teeth per hemimandible (24–28 versus 25–29 and 31–35, respectively).

River dolphins have a complex set of acoustic calls that help shed light on their personalities, behaviours and interaction with other river dolphins. In a study by Gabriel Melo-Santos et. Al they analysed frequency contours of 727 signals They found that these signals had a critical similarity value of 96% and frequency contours were categorized into 237 sound-types. Interestingly the most notable and frequent sounds were emitted when calves were present shedding light on a close and complex mother child relationship. The findings show that the acoustic sounds of river dolphins are incredibly complex and are similar to those of by social delphinids, such as orcas and pilot whales.

The total population of the species is estimated to be of the order of 600 to 1500 individuals, and genetic diversity is limited.[4] The ecology of its habitat has been adversely affected by agricultural, ranching and industrial activities, as well as by the use of dams for hydroelectric power. The inhabited section of the Araguaia River probably extends over about 1500 km out of a total length of 2110 km. The Tocantins River habitat is fragmented by six hydroelectric dams, so the population there is at particular risk.[4] The authors of the discovery paper regard its probable eventual IUCN status to be Vulnerable or worse.

The largest number of individuals of the new species is likely to occur in and around Cantão State Park, which contains most of the lakes in the Araguaia basin. However, commercial fishermen around the park have been killing them because they sometimes steal fish from nets. Shooting is common, but around protected areas like Cantão, where the sound of a gun might attract park rangers, some fishermen have taken to putting out poisoned bait for dolphins. The southernmost population of the species is a small group of isolated individuals in the Tocantins river above the Serra da Mesa dam.

Below you will find a list of any articles which mention this species specifically, below that is a video of this species in the wild. Below this, we will list any tourism opportunities (if any that we connect with).

Dog family tree

The Dog (caninae) family tree

The arctic wolf is a subspecies of the grey wolf found native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, from Melville Island to Ellesmere Island.

The Dogs also form an incredibly successful family. They have spread to even more so more of the earths surface has a dog living in each area. They has been classified into 2 tribes.

The first tribe is the tribe Canini (true dogs), which is further split into two subtribes. Each sub tribe is in turn split into a number of Genus, which have a number of species each

The first subtribe is Canina which is wolf like Canids, this is in term split into 4 genus which I will take in turn

Canis

First genus  is Canis, which is subdivided into 6 species 2 of which have into subspecies.

The second genus is Cuon and only has one member in it. This is found in central south and south east Asia.

The next genus is Lupulella, and has two members, both found in Africa

The last Genus in Canis is Lycaon. This only has one member, which is the African wild dog

The second subtribe is Cerdocyonina (south American Dogs). There are 5 genus with living members (South American dogs), with the 6th (Dusicyon) containing 2 extinct species – so we will not mention this agai .

Of the 5 genus with living members, Lycalopex is one of these genus with 6 species. Lycalopex is made up of South American fox species – it should be noted that these so called South American foxes are not foxes. While they look like foxes, they are more closely related to Jackals and wolves.

The other 4 Genus in this subtribe, with living members each only have one member, so I will deal with these Genus in one go. These Genus are  Atelocynus, Cerdocyon, Chrysocyon and Speothos. In the same order, the species that inhabit each of these genus are Short eared-dog, Crab eating fox, Manned wolf and the Bush dog.

Then there is a tribe called Vulpina, sub divided into 3 Genus. these are essentially the fox like canines

  • The Nyctereutes which consist of the Racoon dogs: the common raccoon dog and the Japanese racoon dog.
  • The Otocyon which consists of the bat eared fox
  • The Vulpes: Which I will deal with in the next section, separately (below

The true fox family is a large extended family of foxes from around the world. They all behave in a similar way, though the habitat in which they live can be very differemt

Finally there is a Genus on its own called Urocyon which consists of grey foxes, of which there ae only 2 surviving members.

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