The Gangetic Dolphin as a River Indicator

The Ganges river dolphin, Platanista gangetica, is a freshwater specialist: functionally blind in the way popular writing often oversimplifies, navigating by sound in silt-heavy water. It is India’s National Aquatic Animal, and a species under genuine pressure from dams, traffic, fishing gear and pollution.

Dolphin Rangers will not publish population figures, local densities, or unpublished survey results on this website. Conservation storytelling that invents precision is still invention. What we can say, plainly, is that the species is threatened, that responsible boat behaviour matters, and that tourism should never become another form of disturbance.

For current status language we follow recognised conservation authorities. For local operations we follow assessment, permission and season — not marketing maps.