KEY POINTS:
BEIJING - For some 20 million years, the white-fin dolphin, or baiji, peacefully swam China's longest river, the mighty Yangtze. But a few short years of breakneck development, over-fishing and a massive increase in shipping traffic means sightings of this shy, graceful creature have become less and less frequent.
A recent expedition failed to spot a single one, and now conservationists fear the almost-blind, long beaked animal is gone for good, the first big aquatic mammal to become extinct because of human activities.
"We have to accept the fact that the baiji is extinct. It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the entire world," said August Pfluger, joint leader of the expedition and who runs the Swiss-based baiji.org, a group dedicated to saving the dolphins.
Chinese scientists said the search would continue for the dolphin, after the group of 30 Chinese and foreign scientists plied the length of the Yangtze for six weeks but failed to make any sightings.
Measuring up to 2.5m in length, the baiji is a relative of freshwater dolphins found in the Mekong, Indus, Ganges and Amazon rivers. It used to be worshipped as a goddess by locals and according to legend is the reincarnation of a princess who refused to marry a man she did not love and was drowned by her father for shaming the family.
There were still 400 white-fin dolphins alive during the 1980s, but the last confirmed sighting was in 2004. The last baiji in captivity, Qi Qi, died in 2002.
Keen to replicate the success at breeding with endangered species that it had with pandas, the Chinese Government set up a reserve in a lake in central Hubei province to look after captured baiji, but failed to find any of the dolphins to start an artificial propagation programme.
- INDEPENDENT
