Rare Mammal Now Extinct
seagoat2
Posts: 241
A sad day, some news to share........:-(
Rare White Dolphin Declared As Extinct
By CHARLES HUTZLER (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
December 13, 2006 2:11 PM EST
BEIJING - A rare, nearly blind white dolphin that survived for millions of years is effectively extinct, an international expedition declared Wednesday after ending a fruitless six-week search of its Yangtze River habitat.
The baiji would be the first large aquatic mammal driven to extinction since hunting and overfishing killed off the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s.
For the baiji, the culprit was a degraded habitat - busy ship traffic, which confounds the sonar the dolphin uses to find food, and overfishing and pollution in the Yangtze waters of eastern China, the expedition said.
"The baiji is functionally extinct. We might have missed one or two animals but it won't survive in the wild," said August Pfluger, a Swiss economist turned naturalist who helped put together the expedition. "We are all incredibly sad."
The baiji dates back 20 million years. Chinese called it the "goddess of the Yangtze." For China, its disappearance symbolizes how unbridled economic growth is changing the country's environment irreparably, some environmentalists say.
"It's a tremendously sad day when any species goes extinct. It becomes more of a public tragedy to lose a large, charismatic species like the river dolphin," said Chris Williams, manager of river basin conservation for the World Wildlife Fund in Washington.
"The loss of a large animal like a river dolphin is often a harbinger for what's going on in the larger system as whole. It's not only the loss of a beautiful animal but an indication that the way its habitat is being managed, the way we're interacting with the natural environment of the river is deeply flawed ... if a species like this can't survive."
Randall Reeves, chairman of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union's Cetacean Specialist Group, who took part in the Yangtze mission, said expedition participants were surprised at how quickly the dolphins disappeared.
"Some of us didn't want to believe that this would really happen, especially so quickly," he said. "This particular species is the only living representative of a whole family of mammals. This is the end of a whole branch of evolution."
The damage to the baiji's habitat is also affecting the Yangtze finless porpoise, whose numbers have fallen to below 400, the expedition found.
"The situation of the finless porpoise is just like that of the baiji 20 years ago," the group said in a statement citing Wang Ding, a Chinese hydrobiologist and co-leader of the expedition. "Their numbers are declining at an alarming rate. If we do not act soon they will become a second baiji."
Pfluger said China's Agriculture Ministry, which approved the expedition, had hoped the baiji would be another panda, an animal brought back from the brink of extinction in a highly marketable effort that bolstered the country's image.
The expedition was the most professional and meticulous ever launched for the mammal, Pfluger said. The team of 30 scientists and crew from China, the United States and four other countries searched a 1,000-mile heavily trafficked stretch of the Yangtze, where the baiji once thrived.
The expedition's two boats, equipped with high-tech binoculars and underwater microphones, trailed each other an hour apart without radio contact so that a sighting by one vessel would not prejudice the other. When there was fog, he said, the boats waited for the mist to clear to make sure they took every opportunity to spot the mammal.
Around 400 baiji were believed to be living in the Yangtze in the early 1980s, when China was just launching the free-market reforms that have transformed its economy. The last full-fledged search, in 1997, yielded 13 confirmed sightings, and a fisherman claimed to have seen a baiji in 2004.
At least 20 to 25 baiji would now be needed to give the species a chance to survive, said Wang.
For Pfluger, the baiji's demise is a personal defeat. A member of the 1997 expedition, he recalls the excitement of seeing a baiji cavorting in the waters near Dongting Lake.
"It marked me," he said. He went on to set up the baiji.org Foundation to save the dolphin. In recent years, Pfluger said, scientists like the eminent zoologist George Schaller told him to stop his search, saying the baiji's "lost, forget it."
During the latest expedition, an online diary kept by team members traced a dispiriting situation, as day after day they failed to spot a single baiji.
Even in the expedition's final days, members believed they would find a specimen, trolling a "hotspot" below the industrial city of Wuhan where Baiji were previously sighted, Pfluger said.
"Hope dies last," he said.
---
On the Net:
The baiji.org Foundation: http://www.baiji.org
---
AP writers Lindsay Holmwood in New York and Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Rare White Dolphin Declared As Extinct
By CHARLES HUTZLER (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
December 13, 2006 2:11 PM EST
BEIJING - A rare, nearly blind white dolphin that survived for millions of years is effectively extinct, an international expedition declared Wednesday after ending a fruitless six-week search of its Yangtze River habitat.
The baiji would be the first large aquatic mammal driven to extinction since hunting and overfishing killed off the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s.
For the baiji, the culprit was a degraded habitat - busy ship traffic, which confounds the sonar the dolphin uses to find food, and overfishing and pollution in the Yangtze waters of eastern China, the expedition said.
"The baiji is functionally extinct. We might have missed one or two animals but it won't survive in the wild," said August Pfluger, a Swiss economist turned naturalist who helped put together the expedition. "We are all incredibly sad."
The baiji dates back 20 million years. Chinese called it the "goddess of the Yangtze." For China, its disappearance symbolizes how unbridled economic growth is changing the country's environment irreparably, some environmentalists say.
"It's a tremendously sad day when any species goes extinct. It becomes more of a public tragedy to lose a large, charismatic species like the river dolphin," said Chris Williams, manager of river basin conservation for the World Wildlife Fund in Washington.
"The loss of a large animal like a river dolphin is often a harbinger for what's going on in the larger system as whole. It's not only the loss of a beautiful animal but an indication that the way its habitat is being managed, the way we're interacting with the natural environment of the river is deeply flawed ... if a species like this can't survive."
Randall Reeves, chairman of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union's Cetacean Specialist Group, who took part in the Yangtze mission, said expedition participants were surprised at how quickly the dolphins disappeared.
"Some of us didn't want to believe that this would really happen, especially so quickly," he said. "This particular species is the only living representative of a whole family of mammals. This is the end of a whole branch of evolution."
The damage to the baiji's habitat is also affecting the Yangtze finless porpoise, whose numbers have fallen to below 400, the expedition found.
"The situation of the finless porpoise is just like that of the baiji 20 years ago," the group said in a statement citing Wang Ding, a Chinese hydrobiologist and co-leader of the expedition. "Their numbers are declining at an alarming rate. If we do not act soon they will become a second baiji."
Pfluger said China's Agriculture Ministry, which approved the expedition, had hoped the baiji would be another panda, an animal brought back from the brink of extinction in a highly marketable effort that bolstered the country's image.
The expedition was the most professional and meticulous ever launched for the mammal, Pfluger said. The team of 30 scientists and crew from China, the United States and four other countries searched a 1,000-mile heavily trafficked stretch of the Yangtze, where the baiji once thrived.
The expedition's two boats, equipped with high-tech binoculars and underwater microphones, trailed each other an hour apart without radio contact so that a sighting by one vessel would not prejudice the other. When there was fog, he said, the boats waited for the mist to clear to make sure they took every opportunity to spot the mammal.
Around 400 baiji were believed to be living in the Yangtze in the early 1980s, when China was just launching the free-market reforms that have transformed its economy. The last full-fledged search, in 1997, yielded 13 confirmed sightings, and a fisherman claimed to have seen a baiji in 2004.
At least 20 to 25 baiji would now be needed to give the species a chance to survive, said Wang.
For Pfluger, the baiji's demise is a personal defeat. A member of the 1997 expedition, he recalls the excitement of seeing a baiji cavorting in the waters near Dongting Lake.
"It marked me," he said. He went on to set up the baiji.org Foundation to save the dolphin. In recent years, Pfluger said, scientists like the eminent zoologist George Schaller told him to stop his search, saying the baiji's "lost, forget it."
During the latest expedition, an online diary kept by team members traced a dispiriting situation, as day after day they failed to spot a single baiji.
Even in the expedition's final days, members believed they would find a specimen, trolling a "hotspot" below the industrial city of Wuhan where Baiji were previously sighted, Pfluger said.
"Hope dies last," he said.
---
On the Net:
The baiji.org Foundation: http://www.baiji.org
---
AP writers Lindsay Holmwood in New York and Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Comments
that made me laugh. thanks.
cross the river to the eastside
I had never heard this particular species referred to as the "white dolphin." The Yangzte Dolphin, a similar species to the Amazon Dolphin.
Haha, you people are too much.
Those ships were probably carrying food for starving babies. Sure, it's a shame that a species of dolphin is no longer around, but it couldn't adapt quickly enough to its surroundings. Mankind needs a place too.
-Enoch Powell
Suprise suprise. If a thread about a blind white dolphin going extinct could somehow be used to bash Republicans you would be the one to do it. Congratualtions.
Too bad about that dolphin.
The environmental record of the Maoists is probably as bad, if not worse, than George W.'s. The destruction of native wildlife was a big part of the Cultural Revolution.........except for the Giant Pandas because they were/are a cash cow.
i'm the first mammal to wear pants.....it's evolution baby.
thanks for fostering the stereotype of dumb humans.
I guess I just think a lot bigger picture than most...
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Thanks for fostering the stereotype of extremist environmentalists, and also using a quote from Eddie Vedder.
The quote legitimizes your post as authentic environmental cry-cry.
-Enoch Powell
No I think you paint a depressing picture (and definetly not bigger)...as a species (meaning us) who have the ability to prevent this from occurring I think we should...this is unfortunate....and nice try of bringing in the abortion debate into it....fuck sakes....
very sad. The loss of species due to humans or introduction of invaders can have a huge impact on the environment including harm to us precious humans.
By keeping weak species hanging on? What are you on about? It's not up to humans to keep or not keep any species 'hanging on'. The fact is, we are destroyong our environment. Perhaps we can employ your logic to weak humans aswell?
No-one's upset about Byrnzie's joke at all, we know it was meant sarcastically. Know1's comment, however, that 'don't worry about this species kicking the bucket, now it's another species' time to pop up and shine' is just bloody stupid. That's what people are reacting against. In order for evolution to occur naturally, in its right time, uninterrupted by human neglect, we need to be preserving species for as long as we can. Otherwise 'coat-tailing' occurs: you lose one species prematurely, and six species surrounding it are in great danger as well. And I don't want any smartasses telling me this wasn't 'premature', it was natural, bla bla bla. As long as we continue to neglect caring for our planet, viirtually nothing is dying naturally.
This is a sad day.
- the great Sir Leo Harrison
that is what people need to realize.
I think you've dropped something pal....
Your sense of humour! :rolleyes:
Jackass
Byrnzie's right. I'm sad about this too, I do care about wildlife in quite a big way.
But that doesn't mean I'm not desperately racking my brain for a disability joke.
- the great Sir Leo Harrison
Just to reiterate...this is the stupidest thing I've ever seen you post. I suspect that you were merely trying to be controversial. As far as you thinking a lot bigger than most, are you serious? You have just dropped down a few notches in my opinion Know1. I was of the opinion that you were smarter and more imaginative than this. I'm afraid that your post reeks of arrogance.
I mean, they only searched the one "hot spot". Creatures will move to a more suitable environment if their's is threatened.
I think this movement tends to be more gradual, usually. But let's hope so, it's possible.
- the great Sir Leo Harrison
Exactly. Hence my comment about thinking bigger picture.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
I don't ever try to be controversial. I state what I think.
Think of it this way, if someone had the power to keep all the dinosaur species and every plant, animal and insect that existed at that time alive, then people and most of the mammals and animals we have now may have never come into being.
I just wonder how we are modifying the future - or the unknown - by placing such high importance on keeping the known hanging on.
And again - I made it a point to say that I think we should save them if possible, but you juveniles choose to grab onto whatever gets your dander up.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.