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| Photo Courtesy Isabel Beasley |
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Discovering a new species is top of the wish list for scientists who work
in the animal world.
Two Queensland marine mammal researchers can vouch for that — they have
found a new species of dolphin in Australian waters.
Their discovery of the Australian Snubfin dolphin, named Orcaella heinsohni, is the first finding of a new dolphin species in the world in more than 50 years.
Isabel Beasley, a PhD student at James Cook University and Dr Peter Arnold, senior curator at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, pictured, are behind the discovery, along with Dr George Heinsohn, a former academic at James Cook University.
Like most scientific journeys, the road to discovery has had many twists and turns, especially for Isabel Beasley.
Isabel, 30, was born in New Zealand and first became interested in dolphins in 1996, while studying for a Graduate Diploma in Wildlife Management at Otago University.
A five-week work placement on a government project in Hong Kong researching the finless porpoise and Indo-pacific humpback dolphin grew into a keen interest in Asian cetaceans, in particular the little known Irrawaddy dolphin.
This led to an extended stay in Southeast Asia, where she began to research Irrawaddy dolphin populations in Borneo, the Philippines and Thailand.
Along the way, Isabel enrolled in a Masters degree at James Cook University in 1999. She hoped to concentrate her research in Borneo but when her work permit failed to eventuate, Isabel changed her focus to the Mekong River of southern Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam. In 2001 she founded the Mekong Dolphin Conservation Project.
When Isabel met Peter and George in Townsville in 1999, she found the two men had been studying the Australian Irrawaddy dolphin since the late 1960s.
The three scientists swapped notes and realised they were on to something. By comparing dolphin skull measurements — Isabel’s from Asia and Peter and George’s from skulls at the Museum of Tropical Queensland – they were quietly confident the differences suggested a new species.
During the next four years while Isabel worked on dolphin conservation in Asia, she also travelled to museums around the world to take skull measurements from Irawaddy dolphin skeletons.
Isabel upgraded to a PhD in 2001 and in 2002 the three scientists published their skulls data, which showed clear differences and the potential for the existence of a new species.
That data was crucial but they needed more to be absolutely sure.
Through further detailed studies, it was confirmed that the little Snubfin dolphin in Australian waters had different skull, dorsal fin and flipper shapes and has three colours, compared with the two coloured slate-grey, white-bellied Asian dolphin.
The Queensland team then invited Dr Kelly Robertson from the South-West Fisheries Science Centre in La Hoya, California, to analyse tissue sample taken from the carcasses of Australian and Asian Irawaddy dolphins.
Dr Robertson found markedly different genetic compositions between Asian and Australian Irrawaddy dolphin populations, in other words clear species level differences.
In July this year, Isabel was recognised for her conservation work on Asian Irrawaddy dolphin populations when she was awarded the William T. Hornaday Conservation Award from the American Society of Mammalogists.
Last reviewed 19 January 2006