River dolphins

Humankind has long felt a kinship of ocean-dwelling mammals, and human culture, customs, and literature abound with sea mammal lore. This volume covers 19 families in 3 orders. Sirenians (like manatees) are evolutionarily distant from both pinnipeds (meaning "fin-footed") and cetaceans, but ecological similarity argues for keeping these three groups together in one volume.

This compilation brings together current information on the status of Asian freshwater cetacean populations, the factors that have caused their recent declines, and what can be done to improve their chances for survival. All of the species or populations in quesion are classified as endangered or critically endangered in the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.