August 7
A freshwater dolphin found only in China is now "likely to be extinct", a team of scientists has concluded.

The researchers failed to spot any Yangtze river dolphins, also known as baijis, during an extensive six-week survey of the mammals' habitat.

It would be the first extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years.

The Yangtze river dolphin was a remarkable mammal that separated from all other species over 20 million years ago.

This extinction represents the disappearance of a complete branch of the evolutionary tree of life and emphasises that we have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet.

The species (Lipotes vexillifer) was the only remaining member of the Lipotidae, an ancient mammal family that is understood to have separated from other marine mammals, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, about 40-20 million years ago.

The white, freshwater dolphin had a long, narrow beak and low dorsal fin; lived in groups of three or four and fed on fish.

Unlike most historical-era extinctions of large bodied animals, the baiji was the victim not of active persecution but incidental mortality resulting from massive-scale human environmental impacts - primarily uncontrolled and unselective fishing.
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Damn, now thats depressing. Fresh water dolphins are cool. I think there is still a species in the Amazon isn't there?

http://www.isptr-pard.org/dolphin.html

I was right. At least they weren't the only fresh water dolphins. Still it's sad.

Maybe in a couple of years they will discover them again hidden away, plotting their revenge...

Or they left because they knew of the impending destruction of the earth. You know, so long and thanks for all the fish and all that.

Its a crying shame and such a waste, i really hope they find a breeding pair or something, first mammals/animals start to die off soon followed by ?????


Steve.

....i knew i should have switched to dolphin free tuna

Ya know, I have gotten to were I don't buy anything marked "Made in China" any more. How sad to lose such a beautiful creature out of greed and foolishness.

This is a tragedy that never should have happened. And I have a bad feeling that this won't be the last of the extinctions to happen.

I really hope that they are wrong, and we see some topics like "Extinct Chinese River Dolphin Still Alive?" popping up in the cryptozoology section.