BEHAVIOUR OF THE AMAZON DOLPHIN 



71 



covered with numerous short and long fresh scratches, many running parallel to 

 the anterior or the posterior edge of the flipper more or less radial to the edge 

 (fig. 29, 31, 32). At first I thought that the scars were bites of piranhas but measure- 

 ments of the distance between the scars and the teeth of the piranha (fig. 33) 

 caught in the same area proved that this was quite impossible. On the other hand, 

 the distance between the teeth of the Inia (fig. 34) is exactly the same as the distance 

 between the scars. The possibility therefore exists that the Inia will try the help the 

 wounded animal in that they grip the flippers and the tail between their teeth and 

 try to push and pull it to the surface of the water. This would confirm the taies told 

 by the local fishermen that wounded dolphins are helped to shallow water by other 

 buffeos. It is obvious that in running water, the wounded dolphin could only be 

 pulled to the surface when held between the jaws of other animais. The hunter who 

 shot animal No. 418 reported that two other buffeos were circling the wounded 

 animal very closely. Layne and Caldwell (1964) are of the opinion that epimeletic 

 behaviour does not exist by Inia but according to my observations, the possibility 

 does exist. In the open sea, it is enough to support the wounded dolphin under the 

 flippers and belly and push it to the surface to breathe (Siebenaler and 

 Caldwell 1956, Pilleri and Knuckey 1968). In the current of the river, however, 

 perhaps it is necessary to bite and hold the flippers and tail between the teeth. Such 

 epimeletic behaviour by Inia can be seen in fig. 4 although I hasten to point out 

 that it is drawn from fantasy not from fact. It would be interesting to make further 

 studies of epimeletic behaviour by Inia. 



Fig. 4. 



Hypothetical drawing of epimeletic behaviour by Inia geoffrensis. 



