(not really yay, fucking chinese poachers)
As of Wednesday, December 13, 2006, the White Dolphin is effectively extinct. A six week search by scientists through areas of the Yangtze river, spotted zero White Dolphins. 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. The search was led by August Pfluger, a Swiss scientist, who revealed that the dolphin was extinct. 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 disappearance. Though the Yangtze is polluted, water samples taken by an expedition every 30 miles did not show high concentrations of toxic substances.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.
As of Wednesday, December 13, 2006, the White Dolphin is effectively extinct. A six week search by scientists through areas of the Yangtze river, spotted zero White Dolphins. 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. The search was led by August Pfluger, a Swiss scientist, who revealed that the dolphin was extinct. 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 disappearance. Though the Yangtze is polluted, water samples taken by an expedition every 30 miles did not show high concentrations of toxic substances.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.
