Bolivian River Dolphin

The Bolivian river dolphin, locally called the bufeo, is the river dolphin of the Bolivian Amazon. It is a member of the Amazon river dolphin group (genus Inia): a long-beaked dolphin with a low ridge instead of a tall dorsal fin, a flexible neck and broad paddle-like flippers, often pinkish in adults. Compared with the Amazon river dolphin downstream it has more teeth, a smaller skull and a longer body. Whether it is a full species or a subspecies (Inia geoffrensis boliviensis) is still debated; genetic sampling across the Madeira rapids has been read both ways (Wikipedia, general species account).

The population is cut off from Amazon river dolphins downstream by the rapids and waterfalls of the Madeira River, and two hydroelectric dams built on that stretch in 2008 have split the river further into reservoirs that dolphins are unlikely to cross. Necropsies show a varied diet of fish from several families and crabs, mostly species that fisheries do not target. The dolphins usually stay below the surface and are hard to watch closely. In 2021 researchers on the Tijamuchi River filmed young males playing with a Beni anaconda (Wikipedia, citing published studies).

In September 2012 Bolivia passed a law protecting the dolphin and declared it a national treasure. Threats include overfishing, wounds from fishing nets, deliberate killing by fishermen who see dolphins as competitors, deforestation and dam building (Wikipedia, general species account). On this guide it is a target species of the Pampas del Yacuma, the river savannas reached by boat from Rurrenabaque.