Big-Beaked Dolphins

The Franciscana dolphin has quite the schnozz. Its beak is longer in relation to the size of its body than that of any other dolphin or whale—up to 15 percent of the animal’s total length.

The Franciscana has another distinction: It’s the only “river dolphin” that doesn’t actually live in freshwater rivers. Instead, it lives in saltwater. It’s found along the coast of South America, from southern Brazil to central Argentina. It’s in bays and estuaries, and up to a few miles out to sea in the Atlantic Ocean.

Franciscana dolphins have several other names. The most common is La Plata, for a region of Brazil where it’s abundant.

The dolphins are among the smallest of all dolphin species—no more than six feet long, and weighing up to a hundred pounds or so. They’re grayish brown on top, and lighter underneath. As they age, though, they turn gray-white, so fishermen have given them yet another name: “white ghosts.”

That’s not just because of their color. Franciscanas move through the water slowly and quietly, perhaps to avoid attracting the attention of killer whales and other predators.

But those aren’t their greatest threats. Hundreds of the dolphins are caught in fishing nets every year. Coastal pollution, habitat destruction, and other human activities are also problems. So while no one knows the exact population, Franciscanas are listed as “vulnerable”—threatened by people who can’t keep their own schnozzes out of the dolphins’ business.