Gangetic Dolphins Got Blind due to Pollution

There are various hypotheses regarding the dolphins losing eyesight but little scientific research to substantiate the claim of pollution having played a role in it .

In a curious U-turn, Ministry of Water Resources said its Minister Uma Bharti's Lok Sabha statement that gangetic dolphins were getting blind because of pollution is "factually correct".

Ms Bharti's claim in the Lok Sabha that gangetic dolphins were losing vision because of pollution came under question after her Ministry in response to an RTI application said there was no scientific study to back it.

The view of the Ministry was seconded by a number of experts who said there was no scientific study to show that gangetic dolphins were losing eyesight because of pollution.

Most of them said the species, because of the habitat in which it has evolved, does not have eye lenses. 

The EDGE of Existence programme launched by Zoological Society of London, which focuses on endangered species, says," Like most river dolphins, this species has little need for vision in the muddy waters it inhabits, and as a result has tiny, non-functional eyes that lack lenses. Individuals use echolocation (find the location of objects by reflected sound), to detect food and navigate and, to a very small extent, for communication."

These dolphins have been native to a particular stretch of Ganga much before pollution started affecting the quality of the river's water. 

Source: NDTV

Media

Taxonomy

• Water Pollution
• River Studies
• Environment
• Pollution

2 Comments

1. Basic biology lesson: during evolution dolphins have developed intelligence and echolocation. At that time no one talked about or felt pollution hazards! In modern times we should fight pollution but not try to twist science. Children will learn wrong things.

2. Factual truth may be that Dolphins with poor vision got inducted into Ganges during its FULL FLOW levels which also means muddy water and must have stayed in and gradually lost the vision because any organ not used for long periods can become dysfunctional. It can not be that blind variant of Dolfins only selected Ganges as their habitat.

   Our ancestors did not need to conserve top soils but we do have access to technology and can make Ganges a river with much cleaner and purer water if we are also not blind to so many facts including misuse of Donor Funds given only for River Projects.. Last century itself was witness to human beings ill-treating River Systems -- almost blindly !