Yangtze River Dolphin declared extinct

[x-y-no]

Sad. It's thought that a combination of the heave container ship traffic on the river and accidental killings in fishing nets doomed the species.

The Yangtze river dolphin was sufficiently distinct from other cetaceans to constitute its own mammal family.

After more than 20 million years on the planet, the Yangtze river dolphin is today officially declared extinct, the first species of cetacean (whale, dolphin or porpoise) to be driven from this planet by human activity.

An intensive six-week search by an international team of marine biologists involving two boats that ploughed up and down the world's busiest river last December failed to find a single specimen.

Today, the scientific report of that expedition, published in the peer-reviewed journal of the Royal Society, Biology Letters, confirms the dolphin known as the baiji or white-fin in Chinese and celebrated for its pale skin and distinctive long snout, has disappeared.

Full article here.

[HURAKAN]

Very sad to hear that. Unfortunately they couldn't cope with the increasing size of the human population and its demand for resources.

List of Extint Marine Mammals:

Marine Mammals

* Steller's Sea Cow, (1768, USA)


* Caribbean Monk Seal (1952)


* Japanese Sea Lion (1950s, Japan)

* Chinese River Dolphin or Baiji (2006, China)

[Opal storm]

Human progress and industrializing have put a heavy burden on all species of our planet. And sadly the Yangtze River dolphin is just another casualty. Hopefully incidents like this will help people wake up to the issues.

[JonathanBelles]

Thats so sad. I hope they can find one or two and revitaize the species. That could take a long time.

[artist]

It is sad. I hope just maybe one day they do find a stray couple that can be reproduced.