The last complete survey in search of the baiji from 1997 to 1999 turned up only 13 of them. The last confirmed report of a sighting of them was in 2002, the same year that the last one died in captivity. An intensive six week search in late 2006 failed to find any evidence of them.
An international research team that had members from the United States, Japan, China and Britain published the results of that survey in the Journal of the Royal Society Biology Letters. The team that was authorized by China, has stated that the Yangtze River dolphin, also known as the baiji, may have slipped away into extinction. The delicate, long snouted freshwater dolphin that is found only in the Yangtze River, has existed for approximately 20 million years. If the team's conclusion is correct, then it would be the first large aquatic mammal since the Carribean monk seal went extinct in the 1950's due to overfishing and hunting.
Using high-tech opitcal instrument and underwater microphones, two research vessels with about 30 scientists spent six weeks searching almost 2,175 miles of the river, from Yichang to Shanghai for any signs of the dolphins. August Pfluger, a Swiss economist turned naturalist who financed the expedition stated that they had begun the recent search with high hopes even though the most recent survey in 1999 had found only 13 baiji, down from nearly 400 in the 1980's.
As time went on with no sightings, Pfluger stated that the team saw that there probably were no baiji left. He admits that they may have missed a few of the animals but they won't have any chance for survival, so they have come to the conclusion that the Yangtze River dolphin is now "functionally extinct."
Water samples from the Yangtze taken by the scientists did not show toxic pollutants at levels high enough to have killed the baiji. They attribute it's demise instead to overfishing, dams, enviromental degradation and ship collisions. They also said that the huge increase of shipping traffic on the river upsets the sonar that the nearly blind dolphins use to find their food.
He feels the loss of the baiji is indicative of a global pattern that is emerging. Hogan stated that river dolphins and large fresh water fish are especially in danger now. There are now only five species of river dolphin left in the world, four live in Asia and all are critically endangered. While searching for the baiji, the scientists surveyed the population of the Yangtze finless dolphin and found only 400 of them. This places their numbers where the baiji were in the 1980's and makes them an animal that immediately requires action taken before they too are lost to the world.
The recovery of the Bald Eagle should be an example of what can be done to save a species and I can only hope that what has been learned there, can be used to save other species that are critically endangered. It is truly tragic to find that the Yangtze River dolphin has slipped away silently from this planet after 20 million years here.
special thanks to National Geographic for the photo of Qi Qi.
An international research team that had members from the United States, Japan, China and Britain published the results of that survey in the Journal of the Royal Society Biology Letters. The team that was authorized by China, has stated that the Yangtze River dolphin, also known as the baiji, may have slipped away into extinction. The delicate, long snouted freshwater dolphin that is found only in the Yangtze River, has existed for approximately 20 million years. If the team's conclusion is correct, then it would be the first large aquatic mammal since the Carribean monk seal went extinct in the 1950's due to overfishing and hunting.
Using high-tech opitcal instrument and underwater microphones, two research vessels with about 30 scientists spent six weeks searching almost 2,175 miles of the river, from Yichang to Shanghai for any signs of the dolphins. August Pfluger, a Swiss economist turned naturalist who financed the expedition stated that they had begun the recent search with high hopes even though the most recent survey in 1999 had found only 13 baiji, down from nearly 400 in the 1980's.
As time went on with no sightings, Pfluger stated that the team saw that there probably were no baiji left. He admits that they may have missed a few of the animals but they won't have any chance for survival, so they have come to the conclusion that the Yangtze River dolphin is now "functionally extinct."
Water samples from the Yangtze taken by the scientists did not show toxic pollutants at levels high enough to have killed the baiji. They attribute it's demise instead to overfishing, dams, enviromental degradation and ship collisions. They also said that the huge increase of shipping traffic on the river upsets the sonar that the nearly blind dolphins use to find their food.
"The extinction of the baiji dolphin should serve as a wake-up call that more needs to be done to protect river life." stated Zeb Hogan, who studies large fish in Asia.
He feels the loss of the baiji is indicative of a global pattern that is emerging. Hogan stated that river dolphins and large fresh water fish are especially in danger now. There are now only five species of river dolphin left in the world, four live in Asia and all are critically endangered. While searching for the baiji, the scientists surveyed the population of the Yangtze finless dolphin and found only 400 of them. This places their numbers where the baiji were in the 1980's and makes them an animal that immediately requires action taken before they too are lost to the world.
"I consider myself a strong man but when I watched the footage I cried for several minutes. It's just so terribly sad," stated Pfluger, as he watched video he had taken of Qi Qi, a male baiji that was rescued in 1980 and was the last to die in captivity in 2002.
The recovery of the Bald Eagle should be an example of what can be done to save a species and I can only hope that what has been learned there, can be used to save other species that are critically endangered. It is truly tragic to find that the Yangtze River dolphin has slipped away silently from this planet after 20 million years here.
special thanks to National Geographic for the photo of Qi Qi.
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