Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

White Dolphin Functionally Extict

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the gone-the-way-of-the-dodo dept.

An anonymous reader writes "For the first time in nearly fifty years another mammal, specifically an aquatic mammal, has gone extinct. In this case, it was the white dolphin, also known as the Baiji, which used to live in the Yangtze River in China. The dolphin had been known to exist for the last 20 million years."

4 of 868 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Oops! by Knara · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to TFA, it wasn't pollution, but rather overfishing and shipping traffic that did them in.

  2. Re:Oops! by Nasajin · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've just contacted the associate professor in cetacean research at my local university, and asked specifically what the cause of the dolphin's extinction is. Apparently, the extinction is a combination of "pollution from industry, habitat loss due to damming, and incidental catch [i.e. fishing]". His words, not mine. I'd hope that he has a bit more knowledge about the issue than the journalists at CNN do.

  3. Re:Oops! by siufish · · Score: 5, Informative

    From their website:

    The decline of the Baiji and the critical situation of the finless porpoise appears to not be directly influenced by the water quality of the Yangtze. Within the framework of the Expedition, scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology did simultaneously investigate the chemical composition of the Yangtze river water and its particulate load. Scientists took both water and sediment samples from 30 different locations all along 1750 kilometers of the river. Although the Yangtze does have an altogether high degree of pollutant build-up, at this time, as Beat Mueller from Eawag pointed out, there are no indications of toxic pollutants in high concentrations.

    (Emphasis mine.)

    Here is some information on the staff at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.

    Not to discount your source, but I'd hope that they have a bit more knowledge about the issue than your associate professor.

    And please, /.ers, stop knee-jerking. That's not what geeks do.

  4. Douglas Adams wrote about the baiji dolphin by monkeybrain · · Score: 5, Informative

    The late Douglas Adams (along with Mark Carwardine) wrote a book titled Last Chance to See about a number of animals on the brink of extinction. The chapter Blind Panic was all about the baiji dolphin's predicament. Practically blind, the baiji dolphin relied sonar to navigate the Yangtze river - the trouble is that the Yangtze is really busy and hence noisy and polluted. The baiji didn't stand a chance, though from the book it seemed that the Chinese did put a lot of effort into trying to save them.

    Scott