"All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth." - Chief Seattle

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

a new dolphin!

hi folks! I just found this on Yahoo.
apparently a new species of dolphin--the Australian Snubfin--has been discovered living off the coast of Australia.

----------

SYDNEY (AFP) - The first new dophin species to be identified in 30 years has been found in Australian waters, researchers announced.

The shy Australian snubfin dolphin lives in shallow coastal waters in northern Australia and possibly Papua New Guinea, said scientists Isabel Beasley and Peter Arnold.

The snubfin was initially thought to have been an Irrawady dolphin, usually found in Asia and Australia, but DNA tests proved that it was a different species, said Beasley of James Cook University in Townsville.

The dolphin has been given the scientific name of Orcaella heinsohni in honour of earlier research in the 1960s and 70s by the university's George Heinsohn.

Because the snubfins live in coastal waters "they are susceptible to many human threats including accidental catch in shark and fishing nets as well as effects of coastal development," Beasley said.

"Human threats on Irrawaddy dolphins in Southeast Asia are even more severe. Five Southeast Asian dolphin populations were recently classified as 'critically endangered' by the World Conservation Union. More...