Bangladesh hosts 6,000 rare dolphins

Thousands of rare dolphins have been found in Bangladeshi waters, a wildlife advocacy group said yesterday, with a warning that the mammals are threatened by climate change and fishing nets.

Nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, which are related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladesh's Sunderbans mangrove forest and the adjacent waters of the Bay of Bengal, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said.

Prior to this study - which the Society news release said used rigorous scientific techniques - the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less.