INDIA NATIONAL SYMBOLS -13(NATIONAL AQUATIC ANIMAL"DOLPHIN")

 The Ganges River Dolphin is commonly known as "SUSU" and the scientific name is ' Platanista Gangetica' declared as National Aquatic Animal of India by the Prime minister in the year 5th October 2009 and also accepted by Ganga Basin Authority(NGRBA). The freshwater dolphins found in the Ganga are a rare species. The Indian government has taken a decision, to save Ganges Dolphins represents the purity of the Ganges river.




The Indian Government Planned to clean river The Ganga that cost around 15,000 Crore. A normal dolphin weight 100Kg with a length of 8Ft.Male dolphin is around 90-100 kg with a length of 2.0-2.2 meters on the other hand female dolphin is around 90-115Kg in weight with a length of up to 2.4-2.6 meters. A baby dolphin at the time of birth weighs around 4-7.5 kg with length 70cm -90 cm.


The Ganges dolphin breeding season is from January to June and mating takes place around March and June, After a gestation period of 9moths, a single baby born. The newly born baby always with mother for the next one year. After 10 years a male able to get sexual maturity with a length of 1.7 meters but in the case of the female, it can happen before 10 years after reaching a length of 2meters.

Ganges River dolphins swim and vocalize constantly. The Dolphins in Brahmaputra River are called as ‘Hihu’. Small fishes and Prawns are their food.


The Union of India declared it a crime for catching or killing Dolphins and anyone who found to be involved in any such situations will be punished with penalty and jail of INR6,000 and 1-6year respectively. They are becoming extinct due to the fishing, Construction of Dams, Sand diggings and many more harmful things done by human beings. Every year nearly 100 Dolphins are getting killed by humans.




NOTE:- The Ganges Dolphin is among the four “obligate” freshwater dolphins found in the world – the other three are the boto’ of the Amazon River (Latin America), the ‘baiji’ found in the Yangtze River (China), and the ‘Bhutan of the Indus (Pakistan). Although there are several species of marine dolphins whose ranges include some freshwater habitats, these four species live only in rivers and lakes. The Chinese River Dolphin was declared functionally extinct by a team of international scientists in 2006.