Bihar to set up Asia's first dolphin research centre

With only about 2,000 Gangetic river dolphins left in India, down from tens of thousands just a few decades ago, the Bihar government is planning to set up Asia's first research centre to strengthen conservation efforts to save the endangered mammal.

  

The mammals are killed at an alarming rate with wildlife officials saying poachers kill them for their flesh and oil, which is used as an ointment and aphrodisiac.

Gangetic river dolphins fall under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act and have been declared an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Last year, the Bihar government decided to set up a task force for the conservation of endangered species.

The Gangetic river dolphin is one of the four freshwater dolphin species in the world. The other three are found in the Yangtze river in China, the Indus river in Pakistan and the Amazon river in South America.

The Gangetic river species — found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal — is blind and finds its way and prey in the river waters through 'echoes'.