White River Dolphin Declared Extinct

The baiji, now declared extinct. Photo: baiji.org Foundation

After scouring China’s Yangtze River for six weeks, a team of international experts has declared the baiji, a rare white river dolphin, “functionally extinct,” according to a statement issued by the group. August Pfluger, head of the Swiss-based baiji.org Foundation and a co-organizer of the expedition, told the New York Times: “We might have missed one or two animals but it won’t survive in the wild. We are all incredibly sad.” The baiji is the first large aquatic mammal to become extinct since the 1950s, when the over-hunted and over-fished Caribbean monk seal disappeared.

A team of 30 international scientists and crew used underwater microphones and high-tech optical equipment to search more than 1,600 kilometers of the Yangtze, the baiji’s only known habitat. The nearly blind cetacean, which relied on its sonar abilities for navigation and finding food, survived some 20 million years as a species, but ultimately disappeared surprisingly fast, experts say. (As recently as the early 1980s, some 400 individuals were known to exist, and there were 13 confirmed sitings in 1997.) “Some of us didn’t want to believe that this would really happen,” said search participant Randall Reeves, chairman of the Cetacean Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). “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 dolphin’s extinction points to larger issues, experts say. “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,” observed Chris Williams, manager for river basin conservation at the World Wildlife Fund. The factors that drove the baiji to its demise—including pollution, heavy ship traffic, and over-fishing—still threaten the world’s five remaining species of freshwater dolphin, three of which live in Asia and all of which are critically endangered. “The situation of the finless porpoise is just like that of the baiji 20 years ago,” said Chinese hydrobiologist and expedition co-leader Wang Ding. “Their numbers are declining at an alarming rate. If we do not act soon they will become a second baiji.”

This story was produced by Eye on Earth, a joint project of the Worldwatch Institute and the blue moon fund. View the complete archive of Eye on Earth stories, or contact Staff Writer Alana Herro at aherro [AT] worldwatch [DOT] org with your questions, comments, and story ideas.