5th October declared as ‘National Dolphin Day’

• 29 Mar 2022

• The Union environment ministry has designated October 5 as the National Dolphin Day, to be celebrated annually starting this year. On 5^th October, river dolphin was declared as India's National Aquatic Animal in 2009.
• The Gangetic dolphin is an indicator species, whose status provides information on the overall condition of the ecosystem and of other species in that ecosystem, for the Ganga ecosystem and is extremely vulnerable to changes in water quality and flow.
• It is categorised as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List.
• A WWF-India and the Uttar Pradesh forest department assessment in 2012 and 2015 recorded 1,272 dolphins in the Ganga, Yamuna, Chambal, Ken, Betwa, Son, Sharda, Geruwa, Gahagra, Gandak and Rapti.