The remains of 120 river dolphins have been found in a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil just over the past week. Experts suspect it is a result of new highly extreme temperatures and the continuous drought Brazil is facing. The high water temperatures are most likely the cause of the deaths as temperatures since last week have exceeded 39C (102F) in the Tefe Lake region. Thousands of fish have died, local media reported, in addition to the dolphins. These Amazon river dolphins are a unique freshwater species found only in the rivers of South America and are one of a handful of freshwater dolphin species left in the world. However, these high numbers of deaths are causing them to become endangered, and there is a great loss of biodiversity in the river. Additionally, these animals have slow reproductive cycles that make their populations especially vulnerable to threats. But at least 70 of the carcasses surfaced late last week when the temperature of Lake Tefe’s water reached 39C, which is more than 10 degrees higher than the average for this time of the year. An increase of 10 degrees is insane and the river will not be able to support life if temperatures continue to increase like so.
This ultimately shows that Brazil is suffering extremely from climate change, and as a result is losing species. Brazil is experiencing hotter air temperatures and therefore, hotter water temperatures and as a result is now facing a severe drought. I mentioned in a blog post two weeks ago how the current drought is affecting the rainforest, which proves it is so harmful to all the ecosystems and biomes Brazil contains. The loss of many dolphins, and many different kinds of fish, is resulting in the river losing biodiversity, which in the future can be detrimental to the entirety of the ecosystem that the river supports.
Post by Charlotte Arnswald
