Malaysia: Dolphins make splash at Matang

New Straits Times 8 Aug 11;

TAIPING: Pink dolphins are making waves at the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve near here, ever since they started appearing in recent months.

They have been reported near the fishing village of Kuala Tangga. Their appearance has caused a lot of excitement as there had been no such sightings of dolphins before this in the area.

The discovery of the rare dolphin species was only made earlier this year when tourism officials from the Taiping Municipal Council held a field trip to the area.

Online news portal, Perak News, reported recently on the dolphin sightings. It was reported that there were three to five dolphins in the estuary. If a person was lucky, he could get a glimpse of the marine mammals swimming near the floating chalet in the area during high tide.

There are two known species of pink freshwater dolphins.

The Chinese white dolphin, or the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis chinensis), which are a native in Southeast Asia, is white or pink-skinned as adults. It can grow up to between 2m and 3.5m.

The Amazon River dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) is the largest of the river dolphins found in Orinoco, Amazon, and the Araguaia/Tocantins River systems of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.

Also known as the pink dolphin, the Amazon River dolphins are considered the most intelligent of the five freshwater species of dolphins.

They have a brain capacity that is 40 per cent larger than that of a human brain.