MANAUS, Amazonas — A team of biologists, vets and fishermen captured rare freshwater dolphins this week on a lake in the Amazon to study their health in the hopes of avoiding hundreds of deaths of the mammals due to a severe drought in 2023.

The dolphins were brought ashore for blood tests and other exams and returned to Lake Tefe as soon as the researchers had finished their work, which included inserting a microchip to follow their behaviour via satellite.

Fishermen were careful not to hurt an adult female dolphin during capture and kept her close to her offspring.

"She relaxed and we could do the tests. She appeared in good health," said project head Miriam Marmontel, of the Mamiraua Institute of Sustainable Development, which mounted the expedition planning to capture up to 20 dolphins.

The work included removing a sample for a biopsy and the placing of the microchip on her back, which will allow researchers to follow her movements, the depths she swims at and even know the water temperatures remotely.

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