Thought I would post a pic.
Posted on 12/15/2006 12:07:30 AM PST by gd124
Beijing, China, Dec 15: An expedition searching for a rare Yangtze River dolphin ended Wednesday without a single sighting and with the team`s leader saying one of the world`s oldest species was effectively extinct.
The white dolphin known as baiji, shy and nearly blind, dates back some 20 million years. Its disappearance is believed to be the first time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction.
A few baiji may still exist in their native Yangtze habitat in eastern China but not in sufficient numbers to breed and ward off extinction, said August Pfluger, the Swiss co-leader of the joint Chinese-foreign expedition.
"We have to accept the fact, that the Baiji is functionally extinct. We lost the race," Pfluger said in a statement released by the expedition. "It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the entire world. We are all incredibly sad."
Overfishing and shipping traffic, whose engines interfere with the sonar the baiji uses to navigate and feed, are likely the main reasons for the mammal`s decline, Pfluger said. Though the Yangtze is polluted, water samples taken by the expedition every 30 miles did not show high concentrations of toxic substances, the statement said.
For nearly six weeks, Pfluger`s team of 30 scientists scoured a 1,000-mile heavily trafficked stretch of the Yangtze, where the baiji once thrived. The expedition`s two boats, equipped with high-tech binoculars and underwater microphones, trailed each other an hour apart without radio contact so that a sighting by one vessel would not prejudice the other.
Around 400 baiji were believed to be living in the Yangtze in the 1980s. The last full-fledged search, in 1997, yielded 13 confirmed sightings, and a fisherman claimed to have seen a baiji in 2004, Pfluger said in an earlier interview.
At least 20 to 25 baiji would now be needed to give the species a chance to survive, the group`s statement said, citing Wang Ding, a hydrobiologist and China`s foremost campaigner for the baiji.
Pfluger, an economist by training who later went to work for an environmental group, was a member of the 1997 expedition and recalls the excitement of seeing a baiji cavorting in the waters near Dongting Lake.
"It marked me," he said in an interview Monday. He went on to set up the baiji.org Foundation to save the dolphin.
That goal having evaporated, Pfluger said his foundation would turn to teaching sustainable fishing practices and trying to save other freshwater dolphins. The expedition also surveyed one of those dwindling species, the Yangtze finless porpoise, finding less than 400 of them.
"The situation of the finless porpoise is just like that of the baiji 20 years ago," Wang, the Chinese scientist, said in the statement. "Their numbers are declining at an alarming rate. If we do not act soon they will become a second baiji."
Pfluger and an occasional online diary kept by expedition members traced a dispiriting situation, as day after day team members engaged in a fruitless search for the baiji.
"At first the atmosphere was `Let`s go. Let`s go save this damn species,"` Pfluger said. "As the weeks went on we got more desperate and had to motivate each other."
Bureau Report
Aw, that's sad.
Thought I would post a pic.
Clone them?
Yea, I thought China was advanced on cloning.
What's the hold up?
Now we know why never heard about them: they're not particularly attractive. Only cute of majestic endangered animals get the attention. Save the pandas!
Looks kind of pink to me.
Interesting.... Some species sadly lost forever, but new ones are still being discovered, many in Sequoia Park caves.
http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=4111
SEQUOIA & KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS
Twenty-Seven New Species Found In Park Caves
The Crystal Cave millipeded, one of the new species found in the park. Photo by Jean Krejca. (photo was no longer there)
A three-year study of the subterranean life found in caves culminated earlier this month in an announcement by biologists and NPS staff of the discovery of at least 27 new species in the caves of Sequoia and Kings Canyon. The discoveries, all previously unknown to science, included spiders, millipedes, centipedes, pseudo-scorpions, and true bugs.
During the course of the three-year study, park staff and contract biologists from Zara Environmental in Austin, Texas, visited 30 caves in the two parks as well as five caves in Yosemite National Park. Zara Environmental specializes in work with cave animals.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have 238 known caves. Most people visit caves for the adventure of a subterranean world or to see beautiful cave formations, but below their feet and over their heads are surprising and varied animals that make caves their home. Previous work in park caves had revealed a few other specialized organisms including white and eyeless animals adapted to the ever-dark cave environment.
Because of their sensitivity to the environment, cave-adapted invertebrates can act as indicators of environmental problems or changes. If park cave animals decline, it may point to other problems in the park environment. Many of the invertebrates discovered live only in a limited area. Some of the newly discovered animals appear to only live in a single cave, while others are found exclusively in caves of the two parks.
Park staff will use the new information to monitor and study the health of these rare animals in an attempt to learn more about them, and to determine if populations are healthy. More work in the future may still reveal other new species living in the caves below the Sequoias. For more information about caves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks visit http://www.nps.gov/seki/snrm/geology/cave_karst.htm .
Contact Information
Name: Alexandra Picavet, Public Affairs Specialist
When properly smoked, the dolphin tastes like salmon...
That's the gay dolphin. No wonder they became extinct...
Gee... I haven't seen my friend in awhile. I hope he's not extinct!
Sheesh...
Maybe they defected, or were celebrating Christmas in a "free river".
Don't be surprised to see them turn up somewhere else.
Merry Christmas!
The chinese probably ate the dolphins genitals to promote virility, and threw the rest of the body out.
Exactly.
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Note: this topic is from 12/15/2006. Thanks gd124. |
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