Tracking what's alive on Earth and what affects it.
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On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin
111
Head count
November 2025
Orcaella brevirostris (Mekong population)
Mekong River, Cambodia
Counted November 2025, by Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (released 15 November 2025).
The count for the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin is 111, every animal known in Cambodia's stretch of the Mekong River, counted November 2025 by the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
No dolphin deaths were recorded in the year to November 2025, reports Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
How it was counted
Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries tallies every dolphin known in the country's stretch of the Mekong River, animal by animal, and gives the total as a plain figure with no range. The figure appeared in a ministry press release carried by the state news agency AKP.
This is a head count, not an estimate: it takes in every dolphin known in Cambodia's stretch of the Mekong River, as tallied by the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
What moves it
The IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group names drowning in gillnets as the main cause of adult deaths, although gillnets are banned, and also lists lost habitat and river flows changed by embankments and dams.
- drowning in gillnets, the main cause of adult deaths, although gillnets are banned. Source: IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group.
- habitat loss and changed river flows from dams and embankments. Source: IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group.
Who is helping
Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries credits fishing communities, river guards, local authorities, the Fisheries Administration and WWF for the year to November 2025, in which no dolphin deaths were recorded, and local fishermen who share information and help act against illegal fishing. The IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group adds that river guards, made up of fisheries officers, police officers and local community members, seize gillnets set illegally along the Mekong.
The next count
The figure is updated on a birth or death (running tally); formal census every few years. No date for the next formal census is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
- Cambodia Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (press release carried by the state news agency AKP) Last checked 12 November 2026.
- IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist GroupMekong River Irrawaddy dolphins Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): 111 (Head count, November 2025).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.