A white-flag dolphin was seen in the Yangtze River in east
China, just days after a leading Chinese scientist said the animal
was likely extinct.
A man with a decoration company in east China's Anhui Province spotted a "big white animal" in
the river at the Xuba ferry in Tongling, Anhui, from 3:10 to 3:20
pm August 19, and filmed it with a digital camera, said Dr. Wang
Kexiong from the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy
of Sciences.
A baiji dolphin (file
photo)
Based on its appearance and living environment, the animal in
the footage was confirmed by the institute to be a white-flag
dolphin, known in Chinese as "baiji," Wang said.
"We are very glad to see baiji still exist in the world," Wang
said.
"Many people have believed that baiji is extinct and this
finding brings us a sliver of hope," said Wang Ding, a leading
expert on the species from the hydrobiology institute of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences. But he noted that it is still quite
difficult to protect the endangered animal.
Because so few of this species still live in the Yangtze River,
their chance of mating is slim, said Wang Ding, who added that one
proposed protection measure is to gather these animals in one
section of the river for breeding.
"This is no easy task. But if we don't do that, white-flag
dolphins are doomed to go extinct," he said.
Zeng Yujiang, the man who spotted the dolphin, told Xinhua, "I
never saw such a big thing in the water before, so I filmed it. It
was about 1,000 meters away and jumped out of the water several
times."
The footage was sent to the Tongling freshwater dolphin nature
reserve to determine what the animal was. A staff member with the
Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who
happened to be at the nature reserve, then brought the footage to
the institute based in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei
Province, which is renown for research on baiji.
The white-flag dolphin, unique to China's Yangtze River, is
listed as one of the 12 most endangered species in the world. Its
population dropped to below 150 in the early 1990s from around 400
a decade earlier.
A team of 25 scientists from China, the United States, Britain,
Japan, Germany and Switzerland failed to find any white-flag
dolphins during a 38-day search last year.
Wang Ding, a leading expert on the species from the hydrobiology
institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and head of the team,
said earlier this month, "This result means the baiji is likely
extinct."
Before the search, scientists had estimated there would be no
more than 50 dolphins in the river, a prediction that appears
wildly optimistic.
If the white-flag dolphin is extinct, it will be the first
cetacean to vanish as a result of human activity as it is on the
top of the food chain in the Yangtze River and has no natural
enemy, according to Wang Ding.
The professor is planning a trip to Tongling with some experts.
"I hope we can find that white-flag dolphin," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2007)
