New Dolphin Species Discovered

Australian researchers discovered a new species of dolphin right in their own backyard. It turns out that a population of 100 dolphins in Port Phillip Bay and 50 in the Gippsland Lakes on Australia's southern coast are genetically unique. The dolphins were originally thought to be one of two bottlenose species, but genetic tests show they are in fact a newly discovered species—the third new dolphin species discovered since the late 1800s. The new species has been given the name Burrunan dolphin, Aboriginal for “large sea fish of the porpoise kind.”