📸 PhotoPhoto: C. Berjeau · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Irrawaddy Dolphin
Orcaella brevirostris (Irrawaddy Dolphin · カワゴンドウ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 In the Irrawaddy River of Myanmar, fishermen tap wooden sticks against their boats to call the dolphins, which herd fish toward the nets and increase the catch.
- 💡 In parts of Indonesia and India, dolphin-watching tourism provides income for local villages.
- 💡 A maximum weight of 133 kg is about six and a half 20 kg bags of rice (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Irrawaddy Dolphin is a dolphin living in coastal waters and large rivers of Southeast Asia and India, with a beakless, rounded forehead resembling that of a beluga.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It lacks a beak, has a bulging forehead and a flexible neck that leaves visible creases behind the head, broad triangular flippers, and a small dorsal fin. Its body is slate-blue to gray with a paler belly.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds on fish, squid, and crustaceans, sometimes spitting water to herd fish, and swims slowly in small pods of about three to six individuals.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List EN (2017) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15419/123790805
- • IUCN Red List category EN — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006421
- • iucnredlist.org — 123790805
- • wikidata.org — Q273331
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Orcaella brevirostris 1878.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Orcaella brevirostris
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Lagenorhynchus albirostris)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.