Australian Snubfin Dolphin Extraordinary Animal

The Australian snubfin dolphins (Orcaella heinsohni) is a dolphin found off the coast of northern Australia. This is similar to the Irrawaddy dolphin (from the same genus, Orcaella) and not described as a separate species until 2005. The snubfin Australia is tri-coloured, while the Irrawaddy dolphin only has two colors on her skin. Skull and fins also show small differences between the two species.

Taxonomic name, Orcaella heinsohni, was chosen to honor George Heinsohn, Australian biologist who works at James Cook University, "to work on odontocetes rintisannya of Australia, including the collection and preliminary analysis of the specimen Orcaella heinsohni which forms the basis for much of our knowledge about new species ".

A new species of large mammals rarely paid enough this time, and the people who are usually from remote areas - such as Saola - or rather rare, see for example Perrin beaked whale, or spade-toothed whale, known only from two complete specimens and some bones were stranded. In fact, snubfin Australia is the first species of dolphins that will be explained in 56 years, but was followed, in 2011, the findings and evidence from Burrunan dolphin (T. australis), also from the continent of Australia. Australia snubfin dolphin unusual among mammals in the population just described are accessible for scientific research.

Nevertheless, the existence of snubfin dolphins in the waters of northern Australia only became famous in 1948, when the skull was found in Melville Bay (Gove Peninsula, Northern Territory). This individual appears to have been caught and eaten by the natives. However, the findings remain unnoted until discussed by Johnson (1964), and shortly afterwards a Dutch captain has come to be known-species observations published.

Two scientists, Isabel Beasley from James Cook University and Peter Arnold Museum of Tropical Queensland, take a DNA sample from the population of dolphins off the coast of Townsville, Queensland, and sent them to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. The results showed George Heinsohn true in the hypothesis that the population of Townsville is a new species.

The holotipe QM JM4721 (JUCU MM61) is a skull and some other bones of an adult male was found drowned in shark nets at Horseshoe Bay, Queensland, on 21 April 1972. That's about 11 years old at the time of his death.

A delphinid species in the genus, Orcaella, which contains one other species, the Irrawaddy dolphin Orcaella brevirostris, O. heinsohni is fine tri-color: brown, on the light brown along the sides, and white belly, Irrawaddy dolphin, on the other hand, is uniformly slate gray except for a white belly. The new species has a rounded forehead, very different from other dolphin species in Australia, and, very small "Snubby" dorsal fin distinguishes it from other dolphins in coverage. The lack of grooves on each side of the back and neck folds over the availability of this species from relatively distinguish.

In the Pacific Ocean from Townsville, about 200 individual snubfin dolphin found. The range of this species is expected to expand into Papua New Guinea, namely, O. heinsohni is endemic to the northern part of the Sahul Shelf, but the majority live in the waters of Australia. They are not considered public, and is being given high conservation priority. IUCN classification of "lack of data" refers to this species and the Irrawaddy dolphin combination (Cetacean Specialist Group 1996). Threats including submerged in the fishing industry and antishark nets, while some hunting by indigenous people may occur (as evidenced by the specimen 1948), this may be insignificant compared to the threat of drowning.