Freshwater Dolphin (Possibly) Extinct, Planet Earth a Little Less Interesting (7/14/08 UPDATE)
What's this? It's a nearly blind, freshwater dolphin that used to hunt, play, and goof around in the Yangtze River. They were pretty timid, hard to find, and in the last days of 2006 the survey group declared these mammals functionally extinct. The last one spotted in the wild was beached and dying in 2004. There were never very many of these in the first place. Here's a excerpt timeline from wikipedia:1986: Population estimated to be 300
1989: Gezhouba Dam complete
1990: Population estimated to be 200
1994: Construction of the Three Gorges Dam begins
1996: IUCN lists the species as critically endangered
1997: Population estimated to be less than 50 (23 found in survey)
1998: 7 found in survey
2003: Three Gorges Dam begins filling reservoir
2004: Last known sighting, a stranded dead dolphin
2006: None found in survey, declared "with all probability extinct".
These dolphins were nicknamed "Goddess of the Yangtze", they were a symbol of peace and prosperity, and were described in the Erya, the oldest known Chinese dictionary (3rd century BC).
You know how these mammals hunt in murky water practically blind? They use echolocation, they emit sound and use the echoes that return from their surroundings to identify, range, and close in on their target.
You know how humans hunt? If the spirit moves them, they haul their candy asses off the couch, walk into the kitchen, and stare into the fridge.
As a species, the Baiji, or white dolphin, had been around for nearly 20 million years. In December of 2006, it got almost 4 inches of press in the New York Times, and has been mentioned on a few blogs.
July 14 2008: There may be hope for the Baiji yet. According to Science Daily and BBC News, a sighting of what is believed to be a Baiji dolphin occured in August 2007. Despite the fact that a scientific expedition the previous year found no evidence of dolphins, leading to the declaration that this unique species was most likely extinct; scientists have confirmed that the footage shot by a local businessman in Tongling City could very well be the Yangtze River dolphin. Unfortunately, the World Wildlife Fund believes that unless drastic changes are made to protect these creatures and their habitat, chances are that this dolphin will be very lonely during the last years of it's life. -Jessica Noel
ps. Never, never, never, never give up. -Winston Churchill
posted by Bob Noel at 9:40 AM
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