A colonial-era myth about endangered pink river dolphins in the Amazon has led to a false belief that perfumes or pusangas made from their body parts are potent love potions. According to a recent Mongabay documentary, the myth has created a market for the perfumes, further endangering the dolphins.<\/p>\n
The film, released in February, follows Mongabay video producer Romi Castagnino to the Peruvian Amazon to see how local communities are working to debunk the legend that put pink Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) at risk.<\/p>\n
Castagnino travels to Bel\u00e9n Market in Iquitos, where illegal dolphin-derived products are being secretly sold alongside plant-based perfumes. They\u2019re also sold online by urban shamans who have profited from exploiting the myth, she says.<\/p>\n
According to legend, a pink dolphin transformed into a man to seduce a girl in the village and impregnated her. In riverine communities today, children with unknown fathers are called \u201cchildren of the dolphin.\u201d Castagnino says the tale has \u201ctroubling ties to gender-based exploitation\u201d and \u201congoing violence against [Indigenous] women, often perpetrated by outsiders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of habitat loss and bycatch from indiscriminate fishing, the dolphin population in the Amazon Basin has decreased by more than half in the last 50 years, with fewer than 10,000 individuals remaining in the wild, fisheries and aquaculture specialist Manuel Sopl\u00edn Bosmediano tells Castagnino.<\/p>\n
The endangered status of pink dolphins fuels the demand for them, which in turn contributes to population decline, Bosmediano says.<\/p>\n
But for the Kukama Indigenous people in the Amazon, pink river dolphins are deeply respected, says local healer Lander Pizango, adding that the Kukama \u201chave always lived alongside big rivers, developing a profound relationship with the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says true healing comes from plants, not dolphin body parts \u201cI don\u2019t engage in that \u2026 You would have to kill dolphins,\u201d he says when asked about love perfumes.<\/p>\n
To combat misinformation and protect pink river dolphins, wildlife conservationist C\u00e9dric Gilleman and his NGO, Solinia, are working with communities and schools to debunk the myths.<\/p>\n
He says some children learn the tale from their grandparents and spread the story. \u201cSo we try to convince them that it is invented by myths \u2026 We must work with the youth because they are the future of the region,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Bosmediano says many Amazonian communities still hold deep respect the river dolphins and perform rituals to ask the dolphins for permission to fish in the river. In the film Pizango is shown blowing smoke over the river, \u201cthanking the river, the mountains, the jungle, everything we hold dear,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n