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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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	<title>Indus River environmental news</title>
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					<title>Old fishermen document declining range of the Indus River dolphin</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/old-fishermen-document-declining-range-of-the-indus-river-dolphin/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/old-fishermen-document-declining-range-of-the-indus-river-dolphin/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2014 18:17:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rex Sanders]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/12/old-fishermen-document-declining-range-of-the-indus-river-dolphin/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Asia, Indus River, and Pakistan]]>
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											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Dams, Endangered Species, Environment, Freshwater, Green, Hydroelectric Power, Rivers, Saving Species From Extinction, and Solutions]]>
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											<description>
							<![CDATA[Reduced river flows below irrigation dams decimate freshwater dolphins Rare photo showing two Indus River dolphins in the wild. Photo credit: Albert Reichert, CC-BY.N The Indus River dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is an endangered freshwater mammal found only in the Indus River and tributaries draining the Himalayas. Since 1879, the dolphin—locally known as the bhulan—has [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Reduced river flows below irrigation dams decimate freshwater dolphins Rare photo showing two Indus River dolphins in the wild. Photo credit: Albert Reichert, CC-BY.N The Indus River dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is an endangered freshwater mammal found only in the Indus River and tributaries draining the Himalayas. Since 1879, the dolphin—locally known as the bhulan—has vanished from 80 percent of its range. Now, a study using interviews with dozens of elders in the Pakistani fishing communities along the river documents when dolphins disappeared from different river sections. Their stories suggest that reduced river flows below irrigation dams are the most important factor in the dolphin&#8217;s declining distribution. The Indus River is one of the world&#8217;s most heavily used and modified rivers. Researchers suspected the dolphin&#8217;s population was falling due to fishing, pollution, canal entrapment, habitat fragmentation, reduced river flows, or some combination of these factors. Recent population estimates have ranged between 965 and 1,300 animals remaining in the river. But scientists didn&#8217;t know when or why the dolphins vanished from each section of the river. Bhulans disappeared from 10 river segments following the construction of irrigation dams starting in 1886, according to a paper published in PLOS One. The blind dolphins, which lack lenses in their eyes but use sophisticated echolocation, managed to survive below six dams that released sufficient year-round flows. But some of the dams diverted so much water to crops that the river effectively dried up in those sections for part of the year. &#8220;Removing all the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/old-fishermen-document-declining-range-of-the-indus-river-dolphin/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24383</doi>				</item>
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