Sotalia fluviatilis (Gervais and Deville, 1853)

Voss, Robert S. & Fleck, David W., 2017, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 2: Xenarthra, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, And Sirenia, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2017 (417), pp. 1-1 : 1-

Sotalia fluviatilis (Gervais and Deville, 1853)

VOUCHER MATERIAL: None.

OTHER INTERFLUVIAL RECORDS: Nuevo San Juan (this report), Río Yavarí (Salovaara et al., 2003), Río Yavarí-Mirím (Salovaara et al., 2003), San Pedro (Valqui, 1999), Wiswincho (Escobedo- Torres, 2015).

IDENTIFICATION: Identifications of gray dolphins are not problematic.

ETHNOBIOLOGY: The gray dolphin is called chishkan uşhu (“white” or “light-colored dol-

phin”). Some Matses recognize a darker variety that they call chishkan umu (“blue dolphin”), although most speakers consider the color variation to be continuous.

Dolphins are of no economic importance to the Matses.

The Matses are not afraid of gray dolphins (as they are of pink Amazon river dolphins).

MATSES NATURAL HISTORY: Gray dolphins are light gray to dark gray.

Gray dolphins are found in rivers and large streams, but not in smaller streams or flooded forest. They are also found in ox-bow lakes when they are flooded.

Gray dolphins travel through the rivers and streams chasing down fish and eating them. Unlike pink Amazon river dolphins, they do not follow canoes, and they can jump high out of the water.

Gray dolphins are solitary and often travel in pairs. They feed in groups of up to 5.

Gray dolphins exhale audibly when they surface, but not as loudly as pink Amazon river dolphins do.

Gray dolphins eat fish.

REMARKS: The Matses do not have much to say about gray dolphins, but they accurately note several behavioral differences from pink Amazon river dolphins, notably their fondness for acrobatic aerial displays ( Inia seldom jumps clear of the water) and their avoidance of flooded forest (an important seasonal habitat of Inia ; da Silva and Best, 1996; Emmons, 1997; Martin and da Silva, 2004). The benign attitude of the Matses toward gray dolphins is similar to those of other native Amazonians, who do not fear this species as they do pink Amazon river dolphins (McGuire, 2010; Paschoal et al., 2013).