The Amazonian river dolphin is a freshwater river dolphin endemic to the Orinoco, Amazon and Araguaia/Tocantins River systems of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.
The neck vertebrae of the Amazon River Dolphin are not fused together, and therefore the Boto is able to bend its neck in a 90 degree angle to its body, and skillfully hunt fish in the flooded forest.
Of the five freshwater species of dolphins in the world, the pink Amazon River dolphin, Inia geoffrensis, or “botos" as they are known as in Brazil, are considered to be the most intelligent.
These friendly, sensitive, mammals has a brain capacity 40% larger than humans, who have lived in harmony with the people of the Amazon for centuries. Now it is facing extinction in some areas.
What was considered to be one of the least threatened species of dolphins 20 years ago, has now become one of the most endangered, due to the accelerated and commercialized exploitation of the Amazon basin, the South American tropical rainforest.
