{"id":33964,"date":"2024-12-19T18:40:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T13:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=33964"},"modified":"2024-12-19T18:40:35","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T13:10:35","slug":"ganges-river-dolphin-tagging-first-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-12-2024\/ganges-river-dolphin-tagging-first-ever","title":{"rendered":"First-ever Ganges River Dolphin Tagging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Syllabus: GS3\/ Conservation, Species In News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • The Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista Gangetica)<\/strong> has been satellite-tagged for the first time<\/strong> by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Rationale<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • The satellite tagging aims to gather critical data on the dolphins’ seasonal and migratory patterns<\/strong>, range, distribution, and habitat utilization<\/strong>, especially in fragmented or disturbed river systems<\/strong>. This information is vital for formulating effective conservation strategies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      About Ganges River Dolphins (also called \u2018susu\u2019)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Scientific Name: <\/strong>Platanista Gangetica .<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Discovery: <\/strong>Officially discovered in 1801.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Habitat and Distribution:<\/strong> Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers & their tributaries in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Characteristics<\/strong>: Only live in freshwater <\/strong>& does not have a crystalline eye lens, rendering it effectively blind.\n
          \n
        • Navigation and hunting through a highly developed \u2018sonar system\u2019<\/strong>, using echolocation (ultrasonic sounds).<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The body is a brownish colour and stocky in the middle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Significance:\u00a0<\/strong>\n
            \n
          • Indicator of the health of the entire river ecosystem.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Controlling and maintaining healthy fish and crustacean populations<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • GOI declared National Aquatic Animal in 2009<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Threats: <\/strong>Habitat degradation via pollution, construction etc.\n
              \n
            • Accidental deaths via entanglement in the nets (bycatch), Poaching.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Conservation Status: <\/strong>Endangered (IUCN), Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.\n
                \n
              • Appendix I of CITES<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                Steps Taken<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
                  \n
                • Project Dolphin: <\/strong>Conservation of dolphins & aquatic habitat through the use of technology (Pollution reduction & sustainable fishery).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • National Ganga River Dolphin Day: <\/strong>October 5 (this day it was declared National Aquatic Animal in 2009).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • Dolphin Sanctuary: <\/strong>Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) (Bihar)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • Conservation Action Plan for Dolphins: <\/strong>By the Wildlife Institute of India launched in 2016.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                  Source: TH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  The Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista Gangetica) has been satellite-tagged for the first time by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33965,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33964\/revisions\/33965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}