Have you heard of a pink dolphin? In the estuary of the Pearl River, between Hong Kong and Macao, there are, indeed, pink dolphins. This is note a joke and not a comic character like the Pink Panther. One of the rarest dolphin species in the world has its habitat around the Indopacific region: this is the Chinese White dolphin, or Sousa Chinensis, to give it its scientific name. In some regions along the coast of China, its skin is a definite shade of light pink. The reason for this is not fully understood but there are a number of theories: 1.) There are blood vessels immediately below the surface of the skin which act as a cooling system for these marine mammals, which are always on the move, and this makes their skin a gentle pink. 2.) The colour is a signal to its fellow species that the animal is ready for mating, clearly visible in the murky waters. These colourful mammals have their habitat in one of the most heavily frequented sea routes in the world, directly off the port of Hong Kong.
There are only around 200 of the dolphins left. Their population has been declining rapidly in the last 15 years. The unchecked growth of this economic conurbation, uncontrolled environmental pollution and the human need to fish the seas on a massive scale has caused the numbers of these dolphins to fall.
Dr. Lindsey Porter, a scientist, has been monitoring the changes in their numbers since 1993 on behalf of the WWF. She knows the species better than anyone else and regularly examines the food available to them and the state of their health.
To date, it has only once been possible to breed a pink dolphin in captivity – in the Dolphin Lagoon in Singapore.
