Sinha Ravindra K, Kannan Kurunthachalam
Department of Zoology, Patna University, Patna, 800 005, India,
Ambio. 2014 Dec;43(8):1029-46. doi: 10.1007/s13280-014-0534-7. Epub 2014 Jun 13.
Ganges River dolphin, Platanista gangetica gangetica, is one of the three obligatory freshwater dolphins in the world and is distributed in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Sangu-Karnaphuli River systems in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. This species is facing considerable threats to its survival, and its population has dwindled from 4000 to 5000 in the early 1980s to 3500 in 2014 in the distribution range. This article reviews current status of the sub-species, habitat use, and the potential threats that the dolphins face for their survival (details of taxonomic status and genetics, evolutionary adaptations and anatomical peculiarities, physical adaptation, primitive characteristics, biology, behavior, surfacing behavior and dive times, mating and birth, and life span/age have been placed as Electronic Supplementary Materials). Recommendations have been made for the protection and developing strategies for the conservation of this Endangered and endemic sub-species.
恒河豚（Platanista gangetica gangetica）是世界上三种 obligatory 淡水豚之一，分布于印度、尼泊尔和孟加拉国的恒河 - 布拉马普特拉河 - 梅克纳河以及桑古 - 卡尔纳普利河水系。该物种的生存面临着相当大的威胁，其种群数量在分布范围内已从20世纪80年代初的4000至5000头减少到2014年的3500头。本文综述了该亚种的现状、栖息地利用情况以及海豚生存所面临的潜在威胁（分类地位和遗传学、进化适应和解剖学特征、生理适应、原始特征、生物学、行为、浮出水面行为和潜水时间、交配和出生以及寿命/年龄的详细信息已作为电子补充材料列出）。针对保护这一濒危且特有的亚种，提出了保护和发展策略的建议。 （注：“obligatory”在这里可能是有特定专业含义的词汇，结合语境可能是“专性的”之类意思，但仅根据提供文本，不太能准确判断其确切所指，以上译文保留英文未翻译）
