no more Chinese white dolphins
♫ So long and thanks for all the shipping traffic ♬Lipotes vexilifier is the first species of cetacean – whales, dolphins and porpoises – to disappear from our globe in modern times…the first large mammal to go extinct as a result of man’s destruction of their natural habitat and ressources.
A team of researchers searched a 1000-mile stretch of the Yangtze river hoping to sight a Baiji (white dolphin) and found nothing. They guess that the Baiji is effectively extinct, and blame human activity — fishing and shipping traffic on the river did them in. Because there is so much sediment in the river, the Baiji have evolved to navigate and find food using echolocation (and are nearly blind). The researchers think that the sound of boat engines along the heavily-trafficked river disrupts the dolphin’s sonar so that they can’t find food.
The Baiji in better days.Looking on the bright side, the white dolphin was an obvious impediment to China’s booming economy, as once was the city of Beijing’s overly-clean air. Many people were even concerned that the completion of the massive Three Gorges Dam project would result in the extinction of the Baiji. Now that both of these problems have been overcome (and Baiji dealt with ahead of schedule!), the Chinese economy can continue its rapid growth unabated. Investors take note.
Note: If you took these photos please let me know if you’d like a credit, a link, or would like them to be taken down.
