Amazon river dolphin FACTS

CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Cetacea
SUBORDER: Odontoceti
FAMILY: Iniidae
GENUS:  Inia
SPECIES: Geoffrensis

IUCN conservation status: Endangered

Amazon River Dolphins, also known as "Botos," can be found in the Amazon River system. They average 6.5 feet in length and are often a rosy pink color. 

Learn some fun facts about the animals we work to conserve! 

Our Amazon River "Botos" are the largest of only 4 river dolphin species!

Unlike its other marine mammal counterparts, the Amazon River Dolphin has unfused neck vertebrae which allows them to turn their head completely from side to side! 

The Amazon River Dolphin has two types of teeth: cone-shaped (like bottlenose dolphins) and spade-shaped (like porpoises). These two types of teeth allow the Amazon River Dolphin to have a varied diet, as they eat a variety of fish (such as catfish & piranhas) and even are known to eat some turtles!

Boto gestation averages 13 months. Calves will stay with their mothers anywhere from 1-6 years!

In Amazonian folklore and culture, botos live in magical, underwater kingdoms and have supernatural powers. The boto is an ‘encantado’ – an enchanted shapeshifter living as a river dolphin by day and morphing into a handsome young man at night. Once transformed, the encantado leaves the river to attend parties and seduce young girls. These mysterious shapeshifters are not able to completely disguise themselves though and still have traces of their dolphin selves. To keep their identities safe, they always wear white hats to cover the blowhole still atop their heads and must return back to the river before morning.

Source: Whale & Dolphin Conservation