Echoes are received back in the dolphin's lower jawbone. Botos can change the shape of their melon, which scientists think may help them change the echolocation beam's size, direction, and frequency. The dolphins emit these clicks through the fatty lump on their forehead, called the melon, which helps focus the sounds into a beam. They also use echolocation, producing low-frequency clicks and using the echoes to help them navigate obstacles in the water and find prey. They have bristles on their snout that help them sense prey on the river bottom. Its long flippers can operate independently of one another, which allows it to navigate fast-moving water more easily and also allows it to enter flooded forestland in pursuit of prey, but they also cause it to be a slow swimmer.īotos have good eyesight, but their chubby cheeks seem to affect their ability to see below them, which scientists believe explains why they're sometimes seen swimming upside down. Ranging in length from 7 to 8.5 feet long, it has a long ridge along its back, which ends at its rather short dorsal fin. Because its spine isn't fused together, like most other dolphins, it is able to turn its head from side to side. The Amazon river dolphin has some other unusual features. Some speculate that water temperature may also be a factor in the intensity of the color. Scientists believe that the murkiness of the water in which the dolphins live may also affect the brightness of their coloring, with clearer waters allowing sunlight to bleach them to a less vivid pink. The pink color seems to come from abrasions, or scrapes, to the skin, and males, who can be very aggressive, often appear much pinker than females. Calves start out a deep grey color, but pale as they get older, and adults are a mottled (blotchy) or solid pink. The boto's most striking physical feature is its color. It is found in northern and central South America, specifically in the Amazon and Orinoco basins and the Madeira River. The Amazon river dolphin ( Inia geoffrensis), also known as the boto or pink river dolphin, is the largest freshwater dolphin in the world.
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