For this month’s talk we’ll be travelling, through Nachiket Kelkar’s stories, to Europe, USA, Japan and then the Indian subcontinent to understand about the ancient and mysterious Gangetic and Indus river dolphins.
A Visceral Connection With Our River Dolphins : How Does The River Dolphin Eats Its Food?
Ganges and Indus river dolphins are animals we often hear of, but know very little about. They have been called ‘ghosts’, living for millions of years in the dark waters of our large rivers. They are effectively blind, and depend largely on the use of sound for survival. In this talk, we will start with the simple question: “how does the river dolphin eat its food?” To find an answer, we will journey across a period from 1878 to the present day, first across the Indian subcontinent, Europe, USA, and Japan, then through the alimentary canal of these river dolphins, and finally, take a dive in the water column of the rivers they inhabit. In this trip we will try to link together diverse aspects of mammal evolution, anatomy, sensory physiology, fish and shrimp biology, river hydrology, and conservation science. Forming this “visceral connection” with our river dolphins can provide us with some insights to protect these endangered animals.
About the speaker: Nachiket Kelkar is a PhD student at ATREE, Bangalore. He mainly studies river-floodplains, river dolphins, fisheries, and fishing communities, and is interested in anything to do with the ecology and conservation of the rivers of the Indian subcontinent.
When: Saturday, February 24 at 11 AM – 12:30 PM
Where: Atta Galatta, Koramangala, Bengaluru
Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1640874956004395/?active_tab=about
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