Pink Dolphins/Chinese White Dolphins How are we polluting their world? By: Marco Chan 8H

What are the physical appearances of a Pink Dolphin? Their Body Size and Weight And Adult’s body length would be around 200 to 350 centimetres long and an infant’s body length would be around 1 meter long. An average weight for an adult dolphin would be around 150 to 230 kilograms. Colour Change Birth – Black Childhood – Grey Youth Age – Pinkish grey with spots Adult – Pinkish white (spots will start to fade out) The picture on the right is a picture of an adult pink dolphin Cause of Colour Change The Colour of the Dolphin’s skin is not caused by pigmentation (when light is Reflected and causes change of colour) but is actually caused by the blood Vessels used for thermoregulation to avoid overheating.

What are their main threats? Their main threats now is that the sea of Hong Kong is getting Polluted by us. This is caused by the increased numbers of Landfills, sea traffic and pouching. The pink dolphins are territorial Animals (which means they don’t flee from their habitat the water Pollution has a high impact on them. Their main threats caused by Us are Industrials, domestic sewage and also littering in the sea. In this map the area coloured in blue is where the pink Dolphins live.

How do they behave? The Pink Dolphins swim up to the surface every twenty to thirty seconds to breathe and after that they dive back in deep into the water. A calf dolphin will go up to the surface to breathe twice as much as an adult would. An adult dolphin can stay in the water fo around twenty eight minutes and a calf can stay under water for around three minutes. This is because that the calf dolphin has a smaller lung capacity then an adult dolphin. The picture on the right is a picture of an adult pink dolphin

Social Habits of Pink Dolphins Pink Dolphins have no natural predator in the sea other then humans, so when they find food they are normally alone or in pairs since they don’t need to form groups for protection as the ocean dolphins do need to. This behaviour does not mean that they don’t socialize but they do form pods when herding fish. Pink Dolphins in pairs in the picture on the left.

Reproductive Cycle The Pink Dolphins are quite sociable creatures and usually live in groups to three to four. Female dolphins become mature at ten years old and for males they become mature at thirteen years old. The Pink Dolphins mate or meet together usually from the end of summer to autumn. Infant dolphins are born usually after eleven months after the parents mate. Mature female dolphins ca give birth every three years.

Dolphin watching The Hong Kong dolphin watching Ltd. Has been running boat trips to visit the Pink Dolphins/Chinese white dolphins for the past 5 Years. Most of the Pink dolphins live in the of North Lantau, Southeast Lantau, Soko islands and Peng Chau. They do this so They can raise the awareness of the dolphin’s existence. Ten Percent of the profit of the organization goes to the research of “Friends Of The Earth” and Hong Kong’s Water Action Group. This Action however, has been criticized for endangering the Pink Pink Dolphins. The picture on the left shows people dolphin watching.

Thank you for watching me presentation and try your best to save the pink dolphins of Hong Kong.