Kipling described it as The Road To Mandalay, the local Burmese know it as Ayeyarwady but to the rest of the world it is the Irawaddy River. This important trade route runs right through the country that used to be known as Burma but now goes by the name of Myanmar. This large river delivers, in the monsoon season, some 40,000 cubic metres of water every second into The Andaman Sea. It also lends its name to The famous Irawaddy River Dolphins that inhabit its murky brackish water. Although called river dolphins they are in fact a species of Oceanic dolphin that can be divided up into 7 subspecies, 5 of which are endangered. They have rounded bulbous heads and are related to the Killer Whale, slate grey in appearance their numbers slumped hugely due to blast fishing and a general destruction of their natural habitat.
They live in small pods of 5 or 6 animals and there is thought to be only about 85 now alive in the river. Numbers also exist in other Southeast Asian coastal rivers and in the Indian sub-continent. World numbers are thought to be about 6000 the vast majority of which are in Bangladesh.
On the Irawaddy River local fishermen have fished in the same traditional method for generations. A method that involves a symbiotic relationship between man and mammal. The men slap the sides of their small boats with wooden blocks and swish their paddles in the water. Before long the dolphins arrive and announce their presence. The men tap the boats again and the fishing begins. The dolphins swim in circles trapping large numbers of fish in a ball in the current that they create. Swimming tighter and tighter together they then steer the fish towards the fishermen. When they are close enough they raise their flukes out of the water in a signal to the men to cast. As they cast the fishermen tap the boats again and the dolphin rush away to avoid being trapped in the nets.
This is repeated until the men are happy with the catch, at which point they tap out a different message and the dolphins come in close to receive their reward. When they have eaten their fill they squirt water out of their mouths to say goodbye and swim off into the dark muddy water.
It is a scene that has been repeated for centuries and nobody teaches young dolphins, they simply seem to learn the behaviour from their elders. Man and dolphin working in complete harmony to the benefit of each other. Hopefully the two groups will ensure the survival of each other in an area of the world that needs all the assistance it can get.
Man Joined By Dolphins During Charity Swim In Cook Strait by Barcroft TV
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7154783
They live in small pods of 5 or 6 animals and there is thought to be only about 85 now alive in the river. Numbers also exist in other Southeast Asian coastal rivers and in the Indian sub-continent. World numbers are thought to be about 6000 the vast majority of which are in Bangladesh.
On the Irawaddy River local fishermen have fished in the same traditional method for generations. A method that involves a symbiotic relationship between man and mammal. The men slap the sides of their small boats with wooden blocks and swish their paddles in the water. Before long the dolphins arrive and announce their presence. The men tap the boats again and the fishing begins. The dolphins swim in circles trapping large numbers of fish in a ball in the current that they create. Swimming tighter and tighter together they then steer the fish towards the fishermen. When they are close enough they raise their flukes out of the water in a signal to the men to cast. As they cast the fishermen tap the boats again and the dolphin rush away to avoid being trapped in the nets.
This is repeated until the men are happy with the catch, at which point they tap out a different message and the dolphins come in close to receive their reward. When they have eaten their fill they squirt water out of their mouths to say goodbye and swim off into the dark muddy water.
It is a scene that has been repeated for centuries and nobody teaches young dolphins, they simply seem to learn the behaviour from their elders. Man and dolphin working in complete harmony to the benefit of each other. Hopefully the two groups will ensure the survival of each other in an area of the world that needs all the assistance it can get.
Man Joined By Dolphins During Charity Swim In Cook Strait by Barcroft TV
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7154783
