#Pink dolphin driver

While the botos have a reputation for leading fishers to areas rich with fish, they are also known for luring them to dangerous areas and deliberately confusing navigators and sinking their boats. But the ribeirinhos, the people who live on the banks of the Amazon and its tributaries, have had a long and complicated relationship with the species. Scientists didnвЂ™t begin to systematically study the behavior or population dynamics of botos outside captivity until the early 1990s. The rosier their skin, the more likely they are to sire calves, perhaps because potential mates are attracted to this evidence of aggression. Their characteristic Millennial-pink hue, found mostly in males, is thought to be caused by the injuries and scarring they sustain in fights with each other. We see nothing.Д«otos can grow to about nine feet long, with humps on their backs in place of dorsal fins. He points to the right, convinced he sees two huddled together, and steers us toward the spot.

#Pink dolphin driver

Our boat driver tells us that the dolphins are probably all around us he sees them frequently. Every once in a while, something pierces the surface-a large splash or a bright flash of color-and we point excitedly, hoping to confirm a sighting of a pink river dolphin, also called a boto. Along with Miriam Pereira Mateus and Ileziane da Silva Pinto, two women in their 30s, IвЂ™m peering at the water, which is as opaque as milky coffee. I вЂ™m on a speedboat on the Rio Madeira, which translates to вЂњwood river,вЂќ near the Brazilian city of Porto Velho in the upper Amazon River basin.