River Dolphins Endangered Around World

Since news broke that the Yangtze River dolphin has likely gone extinct, world attention has focused momentarily on the issue of extinction, particularly of freshwater dolphins.

In South American, scientists are completing a census of freshwater dolphins in the Amazon and Orinoco river basin, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Another census in Asia is ongoing. Dolphins in river systems are believed to have descended from mammals that swam in from the oceans millions of years ago, and adapted to the freshwater environment.

Around the world -- from the Indus to the Ganges to the Mekong -- the great rivers of the world are losing their dolphins. Unique species are going extinct, and a whole class of animals are on the endangered list.

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