They have powerful flippers and tail flukes and a modified hump in place of a dorsal fin. Echolocation allows them to navigate and find prey in the dark, muddy water.īotos are the largest of the four river dolphin species, reaching up to eight feet long and 450 pounds. In addition, the boto’s long snout comes in handy for rooting through river mud for crustaceans or darting among branches after small fish. A unique adaptation lets botos swim easily between trees and through tangles of branches: unfused neck vertebrae, which allows them to bend at up to a 90-degree angle.
The brighter the pink, the more attractive the males are to females-at least during mating season, which takes place when the water has receded and males and females are confined to the river channel again.ĭuring the wet season, however, females venture far into the flooded forest, likely to escape the aggressive males. The coloring is believed to be scar tissue from rough games or fighting over conquests. Botos have the characteristic dolphin smile and, unlike their marine cousins, bulbous foreheads and long, skinny beaks. Into this seasonal sea, which remains for half the year, swims the Amazon river dolphin, or boto. Eventually, thousands of square miles of rainforest are flooded, creating a vast, tree-canopied sea. Every spring when the rains fall in South America, the Amazon River and its tributaries begin to spill their banks.
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