Marty’s photo of the day #2995: The Amazon Rainforest is burning, and while the Amazon has experienced major fires before, there is no doubt greedy right-wing politicians and nearly 40 years of climate change denial are major contributors to the devastation. With that in mind, this week I’m featuring photos I’ve taken of animals in the Amazon Rainforest—because there are some things money can’t buy!
This is the legendary pink river dolphin (females are less pink than the males). My apologies for the mediocre quality of the photo, but pink dolphins, along with platypuses, are among the most frustrating animals I’ve ever photographed. They both live in murky water and give virtually no notice of the split-second they will be on the surface.
Sometimes superstitions are good. In the Amazon region, many native people believe that pink dolphins are shape-shifting deities, and Encante is the city of gold under the Amazon River where they live. This superstition has protected the pink dolphins from hunting and possible extinction. I wrote in detail about this in my first book, “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents,” and even named the talent agency I run “”Encante Entertainment, Inc.” in honor of the pink dolphins.