World and Beauty

IT LOVES warm, shallow tropical waters, whether salty or fresh, murky or clear. Its range covers an area from India’s Bay of Bengal through the Malay Archipelago to northern Australia. Yet, few people—especially Australians, whose northern doorstep may hold the largest concentrations of this animal in the world—have ever seen or even heard of the Irrawaddy dolphin. Surprising? Yes and no. In the 19th century, zoologist John Anderson saw schools of this bluish-gray dolphin, with its round, beakless head, in the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar (then Burma). He gave it the name Irrawaddy dolphin.                                                                Why Rarely Seen Irrawaddies thrive in hot and humid coastal, estuary, and river regions. Their home is often flanked by mud, mangroves, jungle, clouds of mosquitoes and, in places, even crocodiles—not the surroundings that attract humans. The water in these areas is also generally murky, so the only time you would see a dolphin