Tokyo:

Authorities in central Japan are urging beachgoers to steer clear of dolphins after a sharp increase in biting incidents, with one expert saying the culprit may be a single overly playful individual.

This year has so far seen 18 swimmers bitten at several beaches in the Fukui region, according to the local Tsuruga coastguard, which logged just a handful of injuries related to dolphins in each of the past two years.

Most of the bites were minor — some were little more than scratches — but in one recent incident, an elementary school child wound up requiring 20 to 30 stitches, coastguard official Shoichi Takeuchi told AFP.

At Suishohama Beach — also known as “Diamond Beach” — a local tourism association is calling for vigilance, issuing warnings on its website and handing out fliers advising people not to approach or touch the animals.

“Dolphins are usually calm creatures, but they can make you bleed by biting you with sharp teeth, drag you underwater and, in the worst-case scenario, threaten your life,” the association warns online.

The coastguard said it was unclear whether a single dolphin was behind the incidents or whether there were multiple culprits.

One expert, however, thinks one rogue dolphin may be responsible for the incidents, given identifying characteristics such as its dorsal fin and scars.

“It is probably the work of the same individual,” Tadamichi Morisaka, a professor of cetology at Mie University, told broadcaster NHK.

“Instead of trying to harm humans, it might be seeking to interact with humans the way it does with fellow dolphins.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Peru, Lima:

Scientists on Wednesday unveiled a 16 million-year-old fossil skull unearthed in Peru of a river dolphin that once swam in waters that are now the Amazon, and whose closest living relative is the South Asian river dolphin in India’s Ganges River.

Paleontologist Rodolfo Salas said the skull belonged to the largest dolphin known to have inhabited the waters of South America, measuring 3 to 3.5 meters long (9.8 to 11.4 feet). It was named Pebanista yacuruna after the Yacuruna, a Peruvian mythological being that lived in deep water.

“This dolphin is related to the dolphin of the Ganges river in India,” Salas said, adding the one found in Peru is much bigger than its living relatives in Asia.

The ancestors of both dolphins formerly lived in the ocean, Salas said.

“This allowed them to occupy large ocean spaces near the coasts of India and South America. These animals lived in the freshwater environments both in the Amazon and India. Sadly, they became extinct in the Amazon, but in India they survived,” Salas added.

The study was published in the journal Science Advances.

Scientists found the fossil during a 2018 expedition sponsored by the National Geographic Society at the Napo River.

The Amazon and Orinoco river basins still are home to a species known as the Amazon river dolphin, also called the pink river dolphin or boto.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Pilibhit, UP:

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has declared the Gangetic Dolphin as the state aquatic animal.

CM Yogi emphasised the need to maintain the purity of ponds and rivers. These dolphins are found in rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Chambal, Ghaghra, Rapti, and Gerua. The estimated population of Gangetic dolphins in Uttar Pradesh is estimated at around 2000.

“It’s important for both tourists and local residents to refrain from using plastic, as it harms our water and nature,” CM Yogi said.

Additionally, the CM highlighted the importance of training local residents on how to interact with wildlife.

He also proposed training individuals from villages connected to the Tiger Reserve as guides, aiming to create employment opportunities and raise awareness within the community.

Teams of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Forest Department have been recently counting dolphins with the help of GPS in Garh Ganga at Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh.

Regarding the ongoing dolphin census in Garh Ganga, DFO Sanjay Kumar Mall said, “This is a campaign named Meri Ganga Meri Dolphin 2023 campaign. Under this, counting of dolphins is being done in river Ganga from near Muzaffarpur Barrage to the entire Narora Barrage. In this, counting is being done through joint action by both WWF and Forest Department teams. There is a method of counting in it, such that there are two teams, each of which runs at a speed of 10 kilometres per hour, and there is a gap of 10 minutes between them. The entire team from Muzaffarpur to Narora Barrage will see how many dolphins dip in this interval.”

“That team watches the dolphin diving and notes down its GPS location, and then another team comes and notes down its GPS location. It shows that if it comes after an interval of 10 minutes then it is the same dolphin, if it does not come then it is another dolphin then the counting is done in the same way,” DFO Sanjay Kumar added.

The DFO also said that in the old data, there were 22 dolphins counted in 2015, 30 dolphins in 2016, 32 dolphins in 2017, 33 dolphins in 2018, 35 dolphins in 2019 and 41 dolphins in 2020.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)