Chinese white dolphin is likely extinct

The Great White Hopeless

The baiji, a white dolphin found only in China's Yangtze River, appears to have gone extinct. Lipotes vexillifer has been swimming China's longest river for some 20 million years, but in the end it was no match for China's surging economy. In the last few decades, the Yangtze's shallows have been dredged for shipping, many of its fish have been caught or driven away, and noise pollution has increased, perhaps disrupting the sonar of the nearly blind cetacean. In 1986, 400 baiji still swam the river; in 1997, a survey found 13; a 38-day search concluding last week came up empty-handed. An animal must go unseen for 50 years to be formally declared extinct by international scientific bodies, and Chinese scientists will continue searching, but most foreign experts agree with expedition co-leader August Pfluger that the dolphin is "functionally extinct."*

*[Correction, 19 Dec 2006: This summary originally stated that the baiji was the first large aquatic mammal to be killed off by human activity. The Steller's Sea Cow was actually the first.]

straight to the source: The Independent, Clifford Coonan, 18 Dec 2006

straight to the source: The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 17 Dec 2006

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 18 Dec 2006

discuss in Gristmill: A moment of silence

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Comments: (15 comments)

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"a personal defeat"

for poor August Pfluger. And I greatly sympathize with him. But there should be no mistake, this is a defeat for all of us.

In another article that I read on this subject -- and possibly it is there in this AP article, and I overlooked it -- , someone is quoted as saying that the "functional extinction" of the Baiji, Lipotes vexillifer, is the end of an entire "family" of mammals. Well, yes, that is surely true, in a way.

Formally, though, the Baiji has been classified as belonging to the Family Pontoporiidae, which also includes the Franciscana, Pontoporia blainvillei, which lives along the coast of South America from southeastern Brazil to northeastern Argentina, and is apparently still pretty common. It is a bit smaller than the Baiji, and has a beautiful, straight beak. The Smithsonian Handbooks' "Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises," by Mark Carwardine, says about the Franciscana, "One of the smallest of all cetaceans, its most unusual feature is the beak, which is the longest (relative to body size) of any dolphin, though the beak of the juvenile is considerably shorter than that of the adult."

Actually, I thought the longish beak of the Baiji, in the photo, was one of its most charming features. And it deserved a better recognition of its plight by the young woman in the background, apparently some sort of "helper," than her silly grin.

It would not surprise me if many cetologists, including August Pfluger, would prefer to erect a separate family for the Baiji, *Lipotidae, at least on account of the great distance between the Shanghai and the Rio de la Plata. In that case, the extinction of the Baiji does indeed mean the formal end of a family.

We all remember the last mass extinction, do we not, at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary? And we all know we are in a mass extinction crisis right now, no? I am glad that at least some people in Gristmill are following along. Well done, Jason!

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 1:03 AM on 14 Dec 2006

Another species lost because...

...of the endless buggering around an politicking of big enviro NGOs. They could have done something about this a LONG time ago. WWF has been in China for how long and it takes a 'small guy' like Pfluger to get something going? Honestly.

Add to the list of recent extinctions that could likely have been prevented if big NGOs had bothered to do something instead of just covering their own backsides and raising money the Western Black Rhino and the Imperial Woodpecker...

Depressed

Whiskerfish

by Whiskerfish at 2:19 AM on 14 Dec 2006

Get ready folks

This is just the start. The red list is now one species shorter and stands at 40,175. Two billion more people are on the way. Holding hands, they would wrap around the equator 60 times. They have to be fed, but with demand for sugarcane, soybeans, and palm oil for our cars soaring, profit seekers have already started to consume the remaining biological reserves

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 7:00 AM on 14 Dec 2006

points taken..so let's get to work...

ending natural resource subsidies
supporting a move away from animal-based diets
towards sustainable development

J.S.

J.S. htt://voicesofreason.info

by jscorse at 9:45 AM on 14 Dec 2006

Add to the list

a refusal to support biofuels with the potential to destroy biodiversity (pretty much all of them on the market today with the exception of those made from recycled wastes).

On the animal based diets: I seriously think that promoting moderation will be far more effective than telling people they must give up eating meat altogether

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 12:26 PM on 14 Dec 2006

"big enviro NGOs"

As with his/her comments on rhinos in Africa, Whiskerfish makes another interesting accusation. Cf. this paragraph from the article:
<<
"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."
>>

Schaller has long been associated with the World Conservation Society, based here in NYC, and is considered one of its greatest heroes.

The suggestion is fascinating, that WCS, along with WWF, had the ability to do something to save the Baiji, and yet did nothing. In that context, it richly deserves journalistic examination, to find out when and why Schaller and others tried to discourage August Pfluger from doing anything for the Baiji.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 1:31 PM on 14 Dec 2006

The government of China should be ashamed

A life form went extinct on their watch inside their border. They are no better than we are.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 7:57 PM on 14 Dec 2006

Big NGOs and 'difficult' species

There's a lot of emphasis in the conservation community on 'grabbing the low-hanging fruit' - you hear this term constantly at meetings etc.

They're, I think, over-conscious of the need to appear successful - it keeps the funds coming in. Conservation NGOs are big businesses with huge overheads. The idealists have been pushed out by the career professionals.

So they tend to avoid dealing with species that are 'difficult', i.e. in situations where they might fail or offend politically-powerful people or large funders. A similar situation may now be playing out with the Northern White Rhino (down to 4 animals in the wild). My contacts tell me that the big NGOs are making a right mess of negotiations with Congolese govt agencies etc., but I'm looking into it and hopefully will have more details early in 07.

When the California Condor was 'on its way out' the people who wanted to save it by bringing the last animals into captivity were also denigrated as hopeless idealists and opposed by some conservation groups (they were even urged by some eminent conservationists to let the species die out 'with dignity' (!!!) Dying of lead poisoning - a helluva dignified way to go... the mind boggles... ).

Thank God the 'idealists' won the day, and California Condors are now breeding in the wild again.

Cheers

by Whiskerfish at 10:14 PM on 14 Dec 2006
[ Parent ]

biodiversity...

I absolutely agree about the biofuels- in fact, if we removed subsidies biofuels would largely disappear

also, notice what I said about animal foods:

"supporting a move away from animal-based diets"

I am advocating exactly the moderate position that you suggest.

J.S.

Economic Illiteracy Harms The Planet! www.voicesofreason.info.

by Jason D Scorse at 10:21 PM on 14 Dec 2006

plant-based diet

The environmental motivations for not mistaking friends for food are much wider than species extinction.

by anthony11 at 12:36 PM on 18 Dec 2006

A Moment of Silence

"The baiji thus receives the dubious posthumous award for being the first large aquatic mammal to be killed off by human activity."

I thought the Steller's Sea Cow received this award back in the 18th century.

by Steven0703 at 2:47 PM on 18 Dec 2006

more than ashamed

The government of China has a lot to answer to. They are committing cultural genocide in Tibet! They also feel that the natural resources on the Tibetan plateau are fair game for their growing population. The country of Tibet is losing forests, mountains and countless species because of the behavior of the invading government of China.

Did you know that the Tibetan plateau is the source of rivers which supply water to almost half of the world's population? And that China has covert nuclear testing in Tibet, sometimes next to those rivers? Not to mention the mining and deforestation...
China has a lot to answer to.
Give Tibet back to the Tibetans.

by sernya at 3:49 PM on 18 Dec 2006
[ Parent ]

it makes me sad, but gives me hope!

If we want to save animals, protect species and biodiversity, if we want to reduce environmental degredation and global warming, if we want to protect forests and lakes, if we want to optimize health, if we want to minimize suffering...
we can do it in this generation!
Please visit
Eco-Eating: Eating as if the Earth Matters at http://www.brook.com/veg

for lots more information and hundreds of links.

Eco-Eating: Eating as if the Earth Matters at www.brook.com/veg

by CyberBrook at 2:04 PM on 19 Dec 2006

CyberBrook, a tip

Making everything bold doesn't increase its impact. At least, not the way you want it to.

grist.org

by David Roberts at 2:08 PM on 19 Dec 2006

baiji

Actually, the first statement is correct, about being an extinct aquatic mammal. In science, "aquatic" refers to freshwater habitat, whereas "marine" is used for ocean. So the Steller's sea cow would presumably have been a marine mammal, whereas the baiji was an aquatic mammal.

by Tricia G at 9:41 AM on 22 Dec 2006

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