Answer» Correct Answer - Option 1 : Gangetic Dolphin
The correct answer is Gangetic Dolphin. - The Gangetic river dolphin is India's national aquatic animal and is popularly known as ‘Susu’.
- Dolphins are one of the oldest creatures in the world along with some species of turtles, crocodiles, and sharks.
- The Ganges river dolphin was officially discovered in 1801.
- Ganges river dolphins once lived in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. But the species is extinct from most of its early distribution ranges.
- The Ganges river dolphin can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind.
- They hunt by emitting ultrasonic sounds, which bounce off of fish and other prey, enabling them to “see” an image in their mind.
- They are frequently found alone or in small groups, and generally a mother and calf travel together.
- Calves are chocolate brown at birth and then have grey-brown smooth, hairless skin as adults.
- Females are larger than males and give birth once every two to three years to only one calf.
- It is among the four freshwater dolphins in the world- the other three are:
- The ‘Baiji’ now likely extinct from the Yangtze River in China.
- The ‘Bhutan’ of the Indus in Pakistan
- The ‘Boto’ of the Amazon River in Latin America.
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