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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Sydney, AUS
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Kakadu Dolphins
27-03-2008
Kakadu Dolphins (Catalyst, ABC1)
Quote:
Few species of large mammals are yet to be described by scientists these days, especially cetaceans like whales or dolphins.
The newest species of dolphin, described only three years ago, happens to be native to Australia – the Snubfin Dolphin.
Long assumed to be the Irrawaddy Dolphin of SE Asia, the Australian Snubfin lives right across our tropical north, from Townsville to Broome. It coexists with another species, the Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin.
In the Northern Territory, scientists are researching their ecology for the first time. The giant river mouths of Kakadu National Park are particularly remote and hard to reach – the ideal place to search for dolphins.
“It’s probably one of the toughest kind of field trips you could doâ€, says zoologist Carol Palmer. “Depending on the time of year, the weather can be good or it can be abysmal.â€
That’s exactly what Catalyst reporter Mark Horstman discovers in two searches for the elusive snubfin, at the end of the dry season and the beginning of the big wet.
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