about gangetic dolphin susu

1. BY SAMEER VAISH{student of m.s.c
environmental science,2nd
semester,LUCKNOW UNIVERSITY}

2. Environmental Science give us a scientific vision
to watch our surroundings (environment).
It deals with the study & application of the
environment.
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3. • COMMON NAME-SUSU/SUSUK
• SCIENTIFIC NAME-PLATANSITIA GANGETIA
• GEOGRAPHIC HABITATS- GANGA
BRAHAMPUTRA,MEGHA RIVER OF INDIA
AND BANGLADESH.
• LENGTH-2.70 meters in MALES ,2.12
meters in females
• AVERAGE WEIGHT-150 KG

4. GANGETIC DOLPHIN
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5. GANGETIC DOLPHIN
(Platinista gangetica gangetica)
The main habitat of Gangetic dolphin is the river
Ganga, Brahmaputra, Meghna & their tributaries.
The Gangetic dolphin is the soul of aquatic mammal.
It is the most primitive cetacean
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6. Distinguishing character of
Gangetic dolphin
The head tapers in a long compressed snout beset with
pointed conical teeth arranged in serial rows.
The array of teeth may vary from 27 to 32 on each jaws.
Navigation & hunting are carried out by using
echolocation.
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8. Behaviour
Gangetic dolphins live in cohesive family groups.
All the family members scare and bring the fishes to
shallow to capture them easily.
The food is consisted of wide verity of fishes (Mystus,
Channa etc.),crustaceans & molluscs.
It is a good diver, the diving time to average 35-50 sec.
for juvenile and 50 sec. to 3 min. for adults.
They generally comes to surface for 5 sec. or less.
Both male & female protect the young ones from any
type of enemies.
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9. Human Interference
Human interference with Gangetic dolphins has been
cited as a major cause of decline.
Major threats includes boating, construction of dams,
barrages & bridges, direct hunting & incidental catch
and pollution.
Unnecessarily, the boats run across the river several
times in a day.
The bridges creates obstacles for the movement of
Blind dolphin.
The bridge vibration due to trains & other road
vehicles cause sound pollution to highly sensitive
Gangetic dolphins.
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10. REASON FOR DECLINE
The dam blocks the seasonal migration routes of both
dolphins & their fish prey species.
The dams & barrages isolate the breeding population
into smaller units, which potentially reduce genetic
variability & viability of dolphins.
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12. Exploitation
For their oil, the Gangetic dolphin has been directly
killed by man with nets, harpoons & guns.
The oil of dolphin is very much costly. So, the
fishermen caught them and extract oil from their body
and sell in the market at a high rate.
Gangetic dolphins are occasionally shot with guns
while surfacing over the shallow water area.
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14. Pollution
Due to mushroom growth of industries on the bank of
Ganges, effluents damage the natural habitat of
dolphin.
The Ganga is polluted everyday by fertilizers,
pesticides & domestic sewage
The river receives million metric tons of fertilizers &
insecticides annually.
These pollutants can adversely affect the fish fauna,
which would show detrimental impact upon the food
chain of Gangetic dolphin.
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15. Conservation of Gangetic dolphin
The protective reserve for Gangetic dolphin must be
established.
The place where the distribution density as well as
mortality rate of dolphins is high, may be used as
protective areas.
Some native places (metting & breeding place)of
dolphins should be protected strictly.
Ban on destructive fishing with net of small mesh size.
The Indian Wild life Protection Act of 1972 that
prohibits the catching of dolphins should be more
effectively enforced.
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