Region is home to the only pink dolphins
IAN STALKER
Do sleek carnivores that share Brazilian Amazon waterways with fearsome caimans and the mighty anaconda look pretty in pink? Well tourists clearly think so.
Pink dolphins have become somewhat iconic of Brazilian wildlife and the interior Brazilian city of Novo Airao — which fronts the lengthy Rio Negro — is home to what’s dubbed the Pink Dolphin Floating Deck, which lures in free-roaming river dolphins by having staff hold out bits of fish — a preferred dolphin food — and then enabling visitors to pat them from a waterside ramp while they’re snacking.
Visitors are told how to pat the somewhat sensitive dolphins in a manner that won’t upset them.
Staff also explain dolphin behaviour to guests.
Tour guide Josue Basilio says the centre attracts curious tourists wanting to get up close and personal with creatures that have a coloration not found among any of the other of the world’s cetaceans.
“They are a little bit different,” he correctly observes.
Pink dolphins are actually born grey but their fish-crustaceans-turtles diet gradually has them adopt a pinkish hue.
The mammals can reach a length of nearly three meters but are vulnerable to predators such as caimans when they’re young.
Novo Airao dolphins sometimes will leave the region for a day or so as they follow a school of fish but end up returning, Basilio reports.
Reminders of the river dolphins’ unusual hue can be seen throughout The Pink Dolphin Floating Deck, which among other things has a pink rocking chair and pink wastebasket.
Aline Ribeiro of Rio de Janeiro travel agency Pudu Puda Travel — who has seen pink dolphins in Novo Airao — says Brazilians have traditionally been intrigued by the mammals.
“It’s a very mystical animal in our country,” she reports.
Meanwhile, Basilio says tourists love seeing dolphins that stand alone because of their unusual appearance.
“When they see the pink dolphins they become very happy,” he reports.
Among companies that can send people to The Pink Dolphin Floating Deck Place is Katerre Expeditions, whose web site is katerre.com/us. Those wanting further information can email [email protected].
