New species of dolphin found off Australia
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A new species of dolphin, the first to be identified these last three decades, has been discovered in Australian waters. It was thought that the Australian snubfin dolphin was in fact an Irrawady dolphin (usually found in Asia and Australia) but DNA tests prove that it is in fact a different species. Its scientific name is Orcaella heinsohni, honouring George Heinsohn, an Australian biologist who worked at the James Cook University on dolphins.
A new species of dolphin, the first to be identified these last three decades, has been discovered in Australian waters.
It was thought that the Australian snubfin dolphin was in fact an Irrawady dolphin (usually found in Asia and Australia) but DNA tests prove that it is in fact a different species. Its scientific name is Orcaella heinsohni, honouring George Heinsohn, an Australian biologist who worked at the James Cook University on dolphins.
Sources & reporting note
Licensed archive reporting by Wikinews contributors. Text: Public domain (https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Copyright). Original source date retained. 411 has not independently verified this archive report.
Read the source: Wikinews ↗Source published 15 Jul 2005, 05:30 am IST
