Amazon Pink Dolphins: River Spirits

The Amazon Pink River Dolphin is a rare species of aquatic mammal, obviously characterized by its pink skin.

The Amazon dolphin, parted company with its oceanic ancestors about 15 million years ago. The may have entered the Amazon from the Pacific Ocean or from the Atlantic Ocean. Their long beaks (often lined with tiny hairs), small eyes, disproportionately large flippers and highly flexible bodies — once considered “primitive” features — are now recognized as specialized adaptions to a complex environment.

The females are mostly gray; the males are pink as bubble gum, a strategy they have for impressing females.

Pink dolphins

There is a huge bundle of legends and myths surrounding the Amazon Pink river dolphin, as Amazon mythology is as vast and varying as the cultures that inhabit the Amazon rainforest and thanks mainly to superstition they’ve managed to survive until our modern times.

Locals don’t kill them because they think it’s very bad luck. They don’t eat them, because they think dolphins used to be humans long time ago and they can turn back into humans whenever they want.

For some natives, the dolphin turns into a handsome man at night, seduces and impregnates women before returning to the river and becoming a dolphin again.

Some natives respect the gray dolphin as a sacred animal. Semi-divine creatures, that have to be reverenced.

River dolphins have no predators, except for humans. Pollution from agriculture, industry, mining, deforestation, boat propellers and fishing nets are considered as the most dangerous to dolphins.

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