The mass die-off of the endangered pink dolphins in Brazil’s Lake Tefé could be linked to climate change and the El Niño phenomenon, they said.
Researchers from Brazil's Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development retrieve a dolphin carcass from Lake Tefé on Sunday. For 10 days, the people of Tefé have awakened to a terrible sight: the carcasses of pink river dolphins floating in Lake Tefé, food for circling buzzards.
But researchers believe the simplest explanation is heat and drought. With El Niño and record-breaking heat in Brazil and other parts of South America expected to continue in the coming months, they fear, more dolphins could die. But the effort faces challenges. One is finding carcasses in “good condition” for taking samples; in the water and heat, the dolphins’ remains decompose rapidly.
Mariana Paschoalini Frias, a conservation specialist with the World Wildlife Fund in Brazil, fears Lake Tefé could lose 10 percent of its population of dolphins.Heat and historic drought are wreaking havoc throughout South America. Scientists in Venezuela and Colombia are watching the rivers of the Orinoco and Amazon basins carefully. Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, is drying out for want of rain.
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