RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Olympic sailors competing in the Rio de Janeiro may navigate through fetid waters and possibly bump into floating trash. But if they are lucky enough, they might also sail past a few dozen dolphins that live in Guanabara Bay.
Despite the untreated sewage and toxic industrial pollution that flows into bay waters, 34 Guiana dolphins live, breed and feed in the bay.
Still, the dolphin population here is in rapid decline, down from 400 in the 1980s, according to marine biologists who track them.
Scientists warn that the grey mammals with bottle-neck shaped noses that adorn Rio de Janeiro's city logo could disappear from Guanabara Bay in a matter of years.