White Yangtze Dolphin May Be Extinct

White Yangtze dolphin may be extinct By CHARLES HUTZLER, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 39 minutes ago



BEIJING - An expedition searching for a rare Yangtze River dolphin ended Wednesday without a single sighting and with the team's leader saying one of the world's oldest species was effectively extinct.

The white dolphin known as baiji, shy and nearly blind, dates back some 20 million years. Its disappearance is believed to be the first time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction.

A few baiji may still exist in their native Yangtze habitat in eastern China but not in sufficient numbers to breed and ward off extinction, said August Pfluger, the Swiss co-leader of the joint Chinese-foreign expedition.

Source

Well, it looks as if another species is well on its way to becoming extinct..
Some will argue that this is just a natural process that has to occur, it still doesn't take the sting nor the concern away.

[edit on 13-12-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

[edit on 13-12-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

You get what you want, rose and thorn.

The emperor wanted the worlds largest dam.
He sacrificed the worlds last Goddess of the Chang Jiang.

Three Gorges Dam

Sri Oracle

Sri Oracle,I agree. What gets me, especially when one reads the link that you presented, is that there are some people,even some of the posters here, who will swear up and down that human activity has little to no influence on the environment... Bologna.. It does.

[edit on 13-12-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]