File photo for representational purposes showing a dolphin in the Mekong River in Phnom Penh. AFP.
Phnom Penh: A newborn Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin was spotted on Tuesday, becoming the first newborn calf recorded in the country in 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) said in a news release.
The latest-born dolphin calf was seen at the Kampi dolphin pool in northeast Kratie province's Chetr Borei district by a research team of the Fisheries Administration and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The four-day-old calf was found swimming alongside a pod of other adult dolphins, the news release said, adding that it is the first baby dolphin born so far this year.
According to the news release, throughout 2025, the Southeast Asian country registered a total of eight newborn dolphin calves, with zero deaths.
The Mekong Irrawaddy dolphins have been listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species since 2004.
The MAFF estimates that to date, there are a total of 113 Irrawaddy dolphins living along a 120-kilometer main channel of the Mekong River in northeast Kratie and Stung Treng provinces.
