Phnom Penh, Feb 29 (UNI) Another newborn Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin has been spotted, raising the number of newborn dolphin calves in Cambodia to three so far this year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a news release on Thursday.
The new calf was sighted on Feb. 23 near the Kampi dolphin pool in Kratie province's Chetr Borei district by a team of researchers from the Fisheries Administration and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
"This newborn dolphin was seen swimming alongside a pod of six other dolphins," the news release said. "It is the third dolphin calf born in 2024."
Besides the newborn dolphin babies, the Southeast Asian country also recorded the first death of a 14-kg male dolphin on Feb. 18 in Kratie province after being entangled in a fisherman's illegal gillnet.
The Mekong Irrawaddy dolphins have been listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species since 2004.
It is estimated that there are approximately 90 Irrawaddy dolphin population living along a 180-km main channel of the Mekong River in northeast Stung Treng and Kratie provinces.
UNI/XINHUA ARN