Which Amazon rainforest dolphin is famous for its pink colour?

The Amazon river dolphin is the freshwater dolphin famous for its pink colour and lives in the rivers and floodplain forests of South America.

It is also called the pink river dolphin or boto, and its scientific name is Inia geoffrensis. The species inhabits the Amazon and Orinoco basins, where seasonal flooding creates a shifting network of channels, lakes, and forest habitat.

Young dolphins are usually gray, while adults may become pinker with age, scarring, and the amount of blood flowing near the skin. Their flexible necks and broad flippers help them navigate among submerged roots and branches. They use echolocation to locate fish and other prey in murky water.

The Amazon river dolphin is not the only freshwater cetacean, but it is the best-known South American example. Pollution, fishing-net entanglement, habitat alteration, and deliberate killing threaten populations in parts of its range.