The Bolivian river dolphin has been acknowledged as a separate species to the more widely-known Amazon River dolphin. The formal announcement was made at a conservation workshop in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia.

The Bolivian dolphin (Inia boliviensis) was immediately adopted by the Bolivian government as a symbol of the country's conservation efforts.

The Bolivian species is smaller and a lighter grey in colour than the other species and has more teeth. It lives only in the Bolivian Amazon and is isolated from the other Amazon River dolphins, separated by a series of 18 rapids between Bolivia and Brazil.

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