Some people will do anything for a few ‘likes’.
They may even kill themselves and other living things.
Not too long ago, we told you about how more people died from attempting to take an epic, like-worthy selfie than shark attacks last year.
Now, a baby dolphin in Argentina has died after a mob of tourists yanked it from the ocean to pose for selfies with it. The rare La Plata dolphin was passed around for the mob of people to poke, pat, prod, and snap in an attempt to get a cute picture.
Then, it died from dehydration.
Hernan Coria/Facebook
After continuing to handle and pose with its lifeless body, the selfie-snapping beach-goers then left the dead dolphin on the hot sand. The conservation group Vida Silvestre said in a statement that the La Plata can’t survive for very long out of water. Their thick, fatty skin regulates temperature, resulting in a quick death from dehydration when they’re out in hot conditions.
Adding insult to injury, La Plata dolphins are rare and only found in the shallow waters off the coast of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. They’re listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and have a population of less than 30,000.
Had the dolphin survived, it may have lived as long as 20 years and grown as big as 1.7 metres. Sadly, its short life and subsequent death remains immortalized within the cell phones and social media posts of ignorant tourists instead.
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