A colonial-era myth about endangered pink river dolphins in the Amazon has led to a false belief that perfumes or pusangas made from their body parts are potent love potions. According to a recent Mongabay documentary, the myth has created a market for the perfumes, further endangering the dolphins.
The film, released in February, follows Mongabay video producer Romi Castagnino to the Peruvian Amazon to see how local communities are working to debunk the legend that put pink Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) at risk.
Castagnino travels to Belén Market in Iquitos, where illegal dolphin-derived products are being secretly sold alongside plant-based perfumes. They’re also sold online by urban shamans who have profited from exploiting the myth, she says.
According to legend, a pink dolphin transformed into a man to seduce a girl in the village and impregnated her. In riverine communities today, children with unknown fathers are called “children of the dolphin.” Castagnino says the tale has “troubling ties to gender-based exploitation” and “ongoing violence against [Indigenous] women, often perpetrated by outsiders.”
Because of habitat loss and bycatch from indiscriminate fishing, the dolphin population in the Amazon Basin has decreased by more than half in the last 50 years, with fewer than 10,000 individuals remaining in the wild, fisheries and aquaculture specialist Manuel Soplín Bosmediano tells Castagnino.
The endangered status of pink dolphins fuels the demand for them, which in turn contributes to population decline, Bosmediano says.
But for the Kukama Indigenous people in the Amazon, pink river dolphins are deeply respected, says local healer Lander Pizango, adding that the Kukama “have always lived alongside big rivers, developing a profound relationship with the water.”
He says true healing comes from plants, not dolphin body parts “I don’t engage in that … You would have to kill dolphins,” he says when asked about love perfumes.
To combat misinformation and protect pink river dolphins, wildlife conservationist Cédric Gilleman and his NGO, Solinia, are working with communities and schools to debunk the myths.
He says some children learn the tale from their grandparents and spread the story. “So we try to convince them that it is invented by myths … We must work with the youth because they are the future of the region,” he says.
Bosmediano says many Amazonian communities still hold deep respect the river dolphins and perform rituals to ask the dolphins for permission to fish in the river. In the film Pizango is shown blowing smoke over the river, “thanking the river, the mountains, the jungle, everything we hold dear,” he says.
Watch the full video: “Why is this endangered dolphin being killed to make ‘love perfumes’? | Wild Targets” by Romi Castagnino
This article by Kristine Sabillo was first published by Mongabay.com on 27 March 2025. Lead Image: A pink river dolphin © Aflomotion, Pond5.
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