Rare River Dolphin Found Hanging Out With Anaconda

The natural world around us is continuously inspirational, intriguing, and occasionally bizarre, as seen by a shot of Bolivian river dolphins swimming about with a Beni anaconda snake in their mouths.

The findings were reported in Ecology.

Elusive River Dolphins

(Photo : Wikimedia Commons)

River dolphins are rarely observed since it's unusual for them to have their heads above water for lengthy periods of time, let alone while juggling a predatory snake between their jaws.

While it's unclear exactly what happened here, dolphins and cetaceans in general are renowned for their playful actions, in which other animals may participate freely or involuntarily.

The shot was taken along the Tijamuchi River in Bolivia in August 2021. Researchers saw a group of dolphins lingering above the water for longer than usual, but it wasn't until they looked at their photos that they realized what was happening.

"We recognized a snake was handled by [the dolphins]. While it was difficult to estimate their group size, at least six of them," the researchers wrote in a study documenting the incident.

"It was evident that they were more interested in playing with the snake than eating it."

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A Rare Interaction

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The dolphins engaged with the snake in various ways, swimming in synchronized formation on occasion but mainly staying in the same region (the activity moved around 70-80 meters or 230-262 feet downstream while the researchers were watching over the course of 7 minutes).

These interactions between dolphins are unusual, and the researchers speculate that the dolphins were either teaching each other about the snake or eating it rather than playing with it. Another hypothesis is that the lighthearted behavior was, in fact, sexual.

The researchers add, "After that, we were able to see on the images that the adult males were sexually aroused when engaged in object play with the anaconda."

"There were also juveniles there, and it appeared that the adults were demonstrating the snake to them."

Anaconda

The Beni anaconda (Eunectes beniensis) may reach a length of 2 meters (6.5 feet) and dwells in the same region of the globe as the Bolivian river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis boliviensis): northeastern Bolivia's Amazon rainforest.

Why Is It Hard to Find River Dolphins

River dolphins are notoriously difficult to see since rivers are often muddier and more difficult to maneuver than seas, so even if the intricacies of what's going on aren't apparent, it's still a valuable insight into how these creatures spend some of their time (even more so considering that these dolphins are threatened with extinction).

Unfortunately, the snake's experience is likely to have been unpleasant. It didn't move during the encounters and remained submerged for an extended period of time, leading the researchers to believe it was likely dead at the conclusion.

"I don't think the snake had a pleasant time," said Steffen Reichle, a scientist from Bolivia's Noel Kempff Mercado Natural History Museum, to the New York Times.

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