China’s Yangtze River Dolphin now extinct August 10, 2007
The Chinese river dolphin is now officially extinct, according to scientists who could not find a single one of the animals during a six-week search on China’s Yangtze River. The first recorded extinction of a cetacean species to be caused by human activity. The small, nearly blind white dolphin, also known as the baiji, was nicknamed “the goddess of the Yangtze.”
The delicate dolphin, which dates back 20 million years, was found only in China’s longest river, the Yangtze.
The baiji represents a loss not just of a species but a whole family of animals which were endemic to the Yangtze River and evolved separately to other whales and dolphins for over 20 million years. The baiji was described as a ‘living fossil’, remaining as it had, unchanged for at least 3 million years since it first left the sea to swim into the Yangtze River.
The exact cause of any extinction is impossible to determine, but it appears appears likely that habitat degradation, including noise and chemical pollution, over-fishing using toxic poisons and explosives and heavy boat traffic were influential in the loss of the species.
Sources National Geographic and The Whale and Dophin Conservation society
Al - Zoozoo2
- Posted in : life, The planet, scuba diving
- Author : Al
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