PHNOM PENH, Feb 11 (NNN-AKP) – Another newborn Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin has been sighted, raising the number of newborn dolphin calves in Cambodia to three, so far this year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) said, in a news release, yesterday.
The new calf, about two-day-old, was spotted on Sunday at the Chroy Banteay dolphin pool, in Kratie province’s Preaek Prasab 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 eight adult dolphins,” the news release said. “It is the third dolphin calf born in 2025.”
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.
Last year, the country recorded a total of nine newborn dolphin calves, with four deaths, according to the news release.
The MAFF estimates that as of last year, there are 105 Irrawaddy dolphin population living along a 180-km main channel of the Mekong River, in north-east Stung Treng and Kratie provinces.– NNN-AKP
