Some additional information. Too bad I wasn't even born yet when they had those dolphins, that would have been cool to see.
Field and Aquarium Study of the Blind River Dolphin (Platanista Gangetica). (2005)
* Herald, Earl S.
Abstract
Specimens of the blind river dolphin (Susu or Buhlaan; Platanista gangetica), taken from the Indus River, West Pakistan, were investigated. Three female samples, weighing 43, 49, and 59 pounds, were flown from Sukkur, West Pakistan, to the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco. The Susu proved to be sideswimmers, the first cetaceans known to use this method of swimming. Sonar effectiveness of the animal is believed to be great, since healthy blind dolphins have never been observed to hit a wall or obstacle. Autopsies on the specimens, following two deaths attributable to pneumonic infection and one to injury during capture, revealed that the animals' eyes, although rudimentary, presumably act at least as light sensors. (Author)
California Wild Spring 2003 - Earl Herald
Herald was also intrigued by freshwater dolphins. He eventually obtained an Amazon boutu (Inia geoffrensis) from Iquitos, Peru, a gift from the San Francisco Aquarium Society. Named “Whiskers,” it was displayed in the southeast corner tank along with immense alligator garfish (Lepisosteus spatula). The pink-skinned dolphin soon became the center of an institutional controversy. George Lindsay, the Academy’s strong-willed Director and also Director of the Steinhart, wanted to move the alligator garfish and replace them with a mate for Whiskers. Herald wanted the garfish left where they were. This minor disagreement over display philosophy came down to a battle of wills between the two men. Herald vented his frustration in an article co-written with Aquarium Curator Robert Dempster for Aquarium Journal: Of course it is difficult to maintain a sane viewpoint on this animal when the Academy Director, Dr. George Lindsay, casually suggests that we discard the leviathan alligator gar who share the dolphin tank in order to make more room for Whiskers and a proposed mate. Needless to say, Whiskers’ future should prove interesting.
Whiskers got a new tankmate in 1966, when he was joined by another boutu named “Buddy.” Herald won that round, as the alligator garfish stayed where they were.
Pleased with the public’s interest in freshwater dolphins, Herald attempted to achieve another Steinhart first with the capture and display of a blind river dolphin (Platanista gangetica), or susu, of the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra river systems of Asia. In 72 ad, Pliny the Elder wrote about their curious anatomy and the muddy rivers that they inhabit. Herald and his associates obtained three susu while on expedition to Sukkar, west Pakistan, and were faced with the formidable task of transporting them halfway around the world.
Returning via Karachi, they made a brief rest stop and left the dolphins in a clearwater swimming pool. There, they were apparently the first to discover that these dolphins swim on their sides, a unique and curious adaptation. Sadly, the rigors of capture and transport were such that none of them survived for long. However, the results of Herald’s research on susu anatomy, swimming behavior, and echolocation were published in 1969 as a cover story in the prestigious journal Science.
The remaining dolphins were favorites for decades, but a manatee named Butterball was probably the most memorable mammal in the Aquarium’s history. Herald’s friend, Academy trustee Wilson Meyer, happened upon an ailing Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) for sale at a Colombian fish market in 1967. He and Maurice Rakowicz, a former Steinhart employee, ransomed the rotund beast and were able to get it to San Francisco. There, veterinarian Frederic Frye treated the bone and tissue infections in the manateee’s harpoon wound. Butterball survived to became one of very few Amazonian sea cows in captivity, as well as the longest-lived. He became the subject of two masters theses and two doctoral dissertations, as well as six research publications on manatee blood, chromosomes, and vocalizations. Over the next 17 years, he was seen by more than 25 million visitors.
