{"id":1741,"date":"2025-11-23T23:16:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T00:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.braceducation.org\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2025-11-26T15:56:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:56:58","slug":"ancient-legends-modern-challenges-protecting-the-amazons-pink-river-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.braceducation.org\/index.php\/2025\/11\/23\/ancient-legends-modern-challenges-protecting-the-amazons-pink-river-dolphins\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Legends, Modern Challenges: Protecting the Amazon\u2019s Pink River Dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

The <\/span>Amazon river dolphin<\/span><\/a> is known as the\u00a0<\/span>boto<\/span><\/em>\u00a0in Brazil and as\u00a0<\/span>bufeo<\/span><\/em> or\u00a0<\/span>bufeo<\/span> Colorado<\/span><\/em> in Spanish-speaking parts of the Amazon Basin, including Peru, Colombia and Bolivia. No matter what we call them, <\/span>freshwater river dolphins<\/span><\/a> hold significant cultural importance among the Indigenous and riverine communities of the Amazon Basin.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Amazonian folklore, botos are often depicted as shapeshifters, referred to as “<\/span>encantados<\/span>,” who transform into attractive humans during the night to seduce villagers. Encantados are believed to attend local festivities, donning hats to conceal their blowholes, and engage in romantic encounters before returning to the river by dawn\u2014a sweet way to account for the children born months later!<\/span><\/p>\n

Such legends have traditionally fostered a protective attitude toward the Amazon river dolphins, contributing to their conservation. Harming or killing a boto was considered taboo and thought to bring misfortune or bad luck, but changing cultural dynamics and increasing human activities have erased the benefit of those traditional protections.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Amazon<\/p>\n

Contemporary <\/span>World Wildlife Fund research<\/span><\/a> shows that global river dolphin numbers have plummeted by 73% since the 1980s, with water infrastructure, unsustainable fishing, pollution, and other threats endangering their existence.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article was inspired by recent footage<\/a> WWF shared from <\/span>Ecuador’s Amazon Basin<\/span><\/a> in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, where Amazon river dolphins were filmed playing in ways rarely observed in the wild\u2014swimming alongside kayakers, leaping and interacting with each other. The sighting provides new insights into the social behaviors of Amazon river dolphins.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Amazon River Dolphin Facts<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are six species of river dolphins remaining in the world today; they are all endangered or critically endangered. The Amazon\u2019s pink <\/span>river dolphin<\/span> is the largest of them at up to 9 feet long and 350 pounds. <\/span><\/p>\n

The pink river dolphin also has the largest range and is found throughout much of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The species is characterized by its long snout and pale pink color. It has two recognized types or subspecies:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n