With the whole world on hold due to the pandemic, the wildlife seems to claim its rights. With so many animals spotted in placed they hadn’t been spotted for decades, this time it’s the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins to return where they belong
With the ferry traffic dramatically reduced over the last months, more and more of these gorgeous creatures have been spotted into the Hong Kong waters. The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that around 2,500 of these unique dolphins live in the Pearl River Estuary. The Indo-Pacific dolphins or the Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins are a sight to behold due to their coloring. Either white or pink, this dolphin species is the rarest in the world.
“I’ve been studying these dolphins since 1993 and I’ve never seen anything like this dramatic change before, and the only thing that changed is 200 ferries stopped traveling,” Dr. Lindsay Porter, a senior research scientist with the University of St Andrews, told The Guardian. “They are spending much more time socializing or splashing around on the surface. Seeing them playing, to see them having a good time, that was really great to see.”
However, despite the numerous recent sights, the World Wide Fund warns the pink dolphin numbers have drastically decreased over the last years due to pollution, overfishing and heavy marine traffic.