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Rarest Mammal - The Baiji Dolphin of Yangtze River in China |
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Last seen on 19th August 2007, the Baiji Dolphin is the rarest mammal in the world, and was even declared extinct just a few days before the 19th August sighting. The premature,declaration of extinction followed a search by international scientists which lasted 38 days without any sighting of the dolphin at all. It was announced that ’”a part of Chinese soul was gone”. The Chinese River Dolphin, also known as the Whitefin or Yangtze River Dolphin, was nicknamed "the goddess of the Yangtze", having been a resident of the waters of the longest Chinese river over a period of millions of years. Its reputation comes from the fact that it was believed that this dolphin (Baiji in Chinese) was a princess having refused to marry a man who she did not love, and who was therefore excluded from the family by her father. Being 2.5 meters long, this dolphin is a cousin of those who are found in the waters of the Mekong, Ganges and Amazon. The Yangtze ("Chang Jiang" in Chinese, meaning the “long river”) being 6380 in length has a huge psychical importance in China, and also represents an important trade route, vital for the economic life of the 9 regions which border it. The reason of for the near extinction is pollution. 30% of Chinese rivers are now very polluted. The Chinese wanted to try to safeguard the species in a lake, artificially, but due to the scientists being unable to even sight one, it has not been possible. The actual sighting between 3:10 and 3:20 pm on 19th August 2007 was by Zeng Yujiang, a local resident of Tongling who recorded the sighting on a digital camera. The recording was declared by Professor Wang Ding from the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology as "quite likely" to be a Baiji because of the animal's color and movement. If the Baiji were to dissapear completely, it would be the first Cetacean to be declared extinct because of human activity according to a Biology letter from the UK's Royal Society. The number of cargo freighters going through the Yangtze, as well as fishermen's nets imprisoning the dolphins, are thought to be part of the problem. Also, if this dolphin were to die out completely, it would be the first vertebrate to become extinct in 50 years, and only the 4th family of mammals to disappear since Christopher Colombus (previous mammals to become extinct were the giant lemur of Madagascar, in the 17th century; the shrew of the Antilles, probably because of the rats accompanying Christopher Columbu' expedition; and finally the tiger of Tasmania - the last of which died in captivity in 1936). For one of the members of the expedition, biologist Sam Turvey of the society of zoology of London, the believed loss was a tragedy. Sam said that it represents the disappearance of a complete branch in the evolution of the tree of life. It puts forward well that we have not taken on our complete responsibilities yet as guardiens of the planet. That is the least which can be said. All the more so taking into consideration the fact that at this rate the Chinese Alligator (scientific name: Alligator sinensis) is also threatened, the Vaquita, a rare porpoise which lives in northern areas of the Gulf of California, and whose population is estimated to only be between 100 to 300, and also the Chinese paddlefish which can grow to 7 metres long and which has not been seen in China since 2003. The fact that it had been though that the baiji had become extinct should give a real alarm signal to the world! The river traffic on the Yangtze is so busy that the expedition of 2007 crossed a freighter every 800 metres (19,830 boats on 1,669 kilometres coverd covered). Baijis, like other dolphins, moved with the aid of their sonar (sight is virtually useless in dirty waters), but the traffic on the river is such that even sonar would not function being deafened out by the noise of passing ships, not to mention the risk of being wounded by ships' propellers. It is estimated that a massive 10% of the world's human population lives in the Yangtse basin today. The baiji has lived there for more than 20 million years. At the time of writing (4th march 2009) I have been unable to find any mention of any further sightings of the Baiji since 2007. Have you heard anything about our rarest cetacean friend? Please feel free to post in the comments box below.
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