120 Pink Dolphins in Amazon Perish, Climate Change Suspected Culprit

In the past week, 120 river dolphins, including many pink Amazon river dolphins, were found dead in a tributary of the Amazon River. Experts suspect that severe drought and high temperatures caused by low river levels have made the water too hot for the dolphins, resulting in their deaths. Biologists and experts are conducting autopsies to determine the exact cause of death and are considering factors like bacterial infections. At least 70 of the carcasses appeared when Lake Tefé's water temperature reached an exceptionally high 39°C, more than 10 degrees above the average for this time of year. Environmental activists attribute these unusual conditions to climate change, which increases the likelihood and severity of droughts and heatwaves, though the role of global warming in the Amazon's current drought is still uncertain. This event threatens the already vulnerable pink dolphins, a unique freshwater species found in South American rivers.

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Source:

https://www.cbc.ca/.../brazil-dead-dolphins-drought-1....

https://www.reuters.com/.../mass-death-amazon-river.../