Social media has seen a rise in environmental-awareness pages and eco-friendly attitude over the past couple of years.
All of it for great reasons, but the menace of climate change continues.
It has given rise to newer and newer perils for animals in the wild, with iconic animals like the Black rhino from West Africa becoming critically endangered and America’s very own Eastern puma going extinct. Many species are going extinct rapidly and many scientists and experts think it is too late to save the majority of endangered species, all thanks to human activity.
In these dire times, any kind of good news is great news for all wildlife lovers and any sane person who wants the planet to thrive. And today we have brought you one such adorable piece of news.
Pinky, a very rare pink river dolphin inhabiting the Calcasieu River in Louisiana, was spotted about twelve years ago by ship captain Erik Rue. Her strange coloration is distinct. A strange mutation in her genetic makeup may have caused it. This is quite similar to the white giraffes or white lions of Africa, or the famous black panther.
Now the thing is, most of the time, these strangely colored animals rarely find mates because of their ‘difference’ and end up becoming just another blip on the genome of an animal.
But that’s not the case with Pinky.
She was described by Rue as being extremely sexually active, continually mating with the local dolphin population.
It seems the effects have been productive. Pinky, who is kind of a social media celeb, was spotted near a ship with a pink calf.
Yes. A small, pink baby dolphin.
The IUCN claims that river dolphins are endangered. River dolphins are, more often than not, keystone species: these are indicator species that indicate a healthy environment if they thrive. For example, Asian elephants are keystone species because if the jungle can sustain herds, it means there’s enough food for others.
But Pinky’s little baby gives scientists new hope because it seems the mother’s mutations do indeed pass on to the children.
“We still see her swimming almost every day in the summertime,” Rue said in 2015, when he first suspected a pregnancy. “She looks so happy and healthy.”
The animal is thought to be an albino species. Supposedly, it lacked pigmentation that gives hues to skin and hair in mammals. Low-melanin animals often risk sunburn and have to risk the Sun’s UV rays, much like humans with vitiligo. Capt. Rue reported that though she seems unaffected as such, she does remain underwater for a bit longer than others in the pod. Many others, however, believe that Pinky coloration can be due to a rare genetic mutation.
Bridget Boudreaux was one of the few tourists who were able to spot the pink dolphin. She was wonderstruck. She immediately requested to stop the boat.
Pinky and her calf are gaining a lot of attention.
But there is a worse risk that Pinky faces – and it’s not from the sun. Iconic animals like the giraffe are at risk from activities as senseless as headhunting. This could be indicative of the risk that rare creatures like Pinky face.
It is up to us to decide. Do we want life to remain on the planet or just give up on it? And along with that, endanger all these beautiful creatures.