Was it a Baiji Dolphin?
Just a quick update to my post, The Baiji Dolphin is No More, of 13 December 2006.
As I wrote back then, the Baiji Dolphin, one of the world’s oldest fresh-water mammals, was declared “functionally extinct” by the baiji.org Foundation on 13 December 2006 after a six-week, unsuccessful sighting expedition on the Yangtze.
Two days ago, however, China Daily published a story about a possible sighting of the dolphin by a local man in Anhui Province of China. The man tried to capture the white object he believes was a baiji dolphin on video, but the quality of the video was not good enough for experts to be able to confirm the sighting.
While the WWF sees the possible sighting as a glimmer of hope, the baiji.org Foundation still regards the baiji dolphin as “functionally extinct”. The foundation said: “Any surviving baiji are unlikely to be able to find each other for breeding in the huge river and are threatened by ship traffic, overfishing and the increasing degradation of their habitat.”
Personally, and very uncharacteristic of me I might add, I, like the WWF, choose to see this as a glimmer of hope!
Technorati Tags: travel, China, Yangtze, Baiji Dolphin
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