7 August 2012 ~ Pink Dolphins

Listening to:  Catherine Irwin ~ Mockingbird (Little Heater)


Happy Birthday!

On Sunday I went on a Hong Kong Chinese White Dolphin watch. Heading out from Lantau.

Nice scenery.

One trick is to find a fishing boat as the dolphins are smart enough to follow them.

Apparently a sighting.

After about 20 attempts I finally got a shot, although I did see a lot more than I captured on film.

The adults are pink. They are not blind or albino, but scientists believe it is due to the sediments in the water and not enough sunlight gets in or due to "blushing"...flushing blood to the outer layers of the skin for regulation of body temperature. Babies are born grey and start to turn full color at about 3 years of age.

Here is a picture courtesy of afdc.kh.gov.

The saddest part is that they are highly endangered due to pollutants, high traffic and massive land reclamation. From around 400 just 7 years ago the population has dwindled to approximately 78.

Baby dolphins have found to have died from extremely high levels of organochlorines such as DDT and PCBs accumulated from its mother via the milk. Adults will die due to boat traffic accidents or having infections from cuts.

I was able to catch 2 very short (and not very good) video shots.

http://youtu.be/dZKs96TXdcU

http://youtu.be/bsLD2H3_QJI