Baiji not quite as extinct as we thought
A little under a year ago, I blogged that the Baiji, or Yangtzi River Dolphin was extinct. Well, I’m extremely happy to report that we may have been a little premature in writing them off. The BBC is now reporting that earlier this month, a Chinese fisherman saw and filmed what was most likely a Baiji swimming near the surface, and jumping from the water several times.
Even if this is confirmed as a live Baiji, it doesn’t mean that there’s a viable wild breeding population. In fact it’s quite unlikely, but it raises some hope that enough live specimens might yet be found to establish a captive breeding program, which could yet bring them back from the very brink of extinction.
If this teaches us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t be too quick to write off any species as extinct, just because we can’t see them. As the man said; “life finds a way.”
So if I cannto see the americans every day can I write them off as extinct. PWWWWEEEEEESSSEESSEEEEESSS!
Well, it was a bit more than “we haven’t seen any for a while, so they must be extinct.” There had been a significant six week study done to survey the population in the river, which had failed to sight a single animal, and there had been no reported sightings for some time.
Unfortunately, this one sighting doesn’t really reverse the conclusion. The habitat destruction is just too extreme, and the numbers likely too low for the Baiji to make a recovery in the wild. The only hope is if we can find enough of them and transplant them into a managed environment.