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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 08:38 AM Sep 2012

Yangtze finless porpoise: China's national treasure disappearing fast

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/07/yangtze-finless-porpoise-china


Finless porpoise in the aquarium of a conservation centre in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Photograph: Yangtze Finless Porpoise Conservation Society

It's been an hour and the group of volunteers aboard the rickety fishing boat are still yet to spot a Yangtze finless porpoise, known as jiangzhu or "river pig". Thirty years ago, when they numbered 2,000, the mammals could be seen from the shore here dancing on Dongting Lake in the sludge-coloured waves. Now there are about 85 jiangzhu here. As Xu Yaping, the patrol's chief, peers through the haze, and coal barges and dredgers churn the lake, the chance of encountering this ancient creature seems remote.

The jiangzhu's survival is not guaranteed. Since the official extinction of the baiji, a river dolphin, in 2007, the porpoise is the only cetacean inhabiting the Yangtze River and two connecting freshwater lakes, Dongting and Poyang, China's largest. It's estimated there are around 1,200 jiangzhu living in the wild – two-thirds less than a decade earlier. The species is decreasing at a rate of 6.4% a year, making it rarer than China's national treasure, the giant panda.

A spike in deaths this year is causing experts renewed anxiety. In April WWF China expressed "deep concern" over the deaths of 32 porpoise in 2012. At the current rate of decline, the jiangzhu is set to follow the baiji into extinction in 10-15 years.
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