Indus river dolphin

Indus river dolphin
Size compared to an average human
CITES Appendix I 
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Platanistidae
Genus: Platanista
Species:
P. minor
Binomial name
Platanista minor
Owen, 1853
Ranges of the Indus river dolphin and Ganges river dolphin

The Indus river dolphin (Platanista minor) is a freshwater dolphin in the family Platanistidae. It is endemic to the rivers of the Indus basin in Pakistan and northwestern India. It was the first discovered side-swimming cetacean. In Pakistan, it occurs in the Indus River, where five small sub-populations are separated by irrigation barrages. In India, a very small isolated population at a very high risk of extinction lives in the Beas River. It is the national mammal of Pakistan and the state aquatic animal of Punjab, India.

From the 1970s until 1998, the Ganges River dolphin (Platanista gangetica) and the Indus dolphin were regarded as separate species; however, in 1998, their classification was changed from two separate species to subspecies of the South Asian river dolphin. However, more recent studies support them being distinct species.

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