PHNOM PENH, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Another newborn Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin has been sighted, bringing the number of newborn dolphin calves in Cambodia to six so far this year, the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a news release on Tuesday.
The newborn was spotted on Monday at a dolphin pool in Kratie province's Sambour district by a team of researchers from the Fisheries Administration and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
"This baby dolphin was seen swimming alongside a pod of two adult dolphins," the news release said. "It is the sixth dolphin calf born in 2024."
Since the start of this year, the Southeast Asian country has also recorded two baby dolphin deaths.
The Mekong Irrawaddy dolphins have been listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species since 2004.
It is estimated that there are approximately 90 Irrawaddy dolphin population living along a 180-kilometer main channel of the Mekong River in Cambodia's northeastern Stung Treng and Kratie provinces. ■
