Lipotes vexillifer (Baiji, Yangtze River Dolphin)

[another specialist]

journals.royalsociety.org/content/15782wq480207749/?p=dfacdc4b5ed94c0e82c5421a00f0f8da&pi=56

[Peter]

Here a link to a recent (10 december) webcast of a presentation by Dr Samuel Turvey named 'Witness to Extinction' about the the Yangtze River Dolphin:
www.scienceoxfordlive.com/watch-us-archive/witness-to-extinction-webcast.

He speaks almost 80 minutes and tells the story of the plight of these unique and beautiful creatures from his perspective as a conservation biologist deeply involved in the struggle to save them.

I'm sure some of you if not all, will like this. He tells from his own experience why the Yangtze River Dolphin became extinct. Why we failed to save it.

[sburd]

I just recently learned about the extinction of these beautiful animals and read about how Chinese fishermen would, and still do, drag hooks behind their shipping boats to catch extra fish. These would snag and entangle the dolphins drowning them. Being nearly blind these poor dolphins were defenseless. These poor dolphins were declared functionally extinct, meaning if any were remaining, then they are doomed to extinction.

[surroundx]

Sam Turvey wrote an excellent book on the extinction of the Baiji: Witness to Extinction: How We Failed to Save the Yangtze River Dolphin. It is indeed very sad that such a majestic creature has become extinct (or at least functionally so).

[Peter]

Welcome to the forum sburd! And I agree with surroundx, Witness to Extinction by Sam Turvey is indeed an excellent book! Although a sad story it is one of my favourites.

[Peter]

The sad thing is that if people had known and the major conservation organisations had taken action (they knew), than this species could possibly have been saved.

Here some (and there are many more) frustrating quotes from the book of Samual Turvey, 'Witness to Extinction: How We Failed to Save the Yangtze River Dolphin':

"What’s more inexcusable is that although some of the major international conservation organizations provided funding for meetings, surveys, and associated research, they provided no meaningful support to carry out any active baiji conservation, either."

"...Why was none of this ever done to any appreciable extent? Why do most people I have spoken to, if they know anything about the baiji at all, tell me that they have only ever heard about its plight in Last Chance to See rather than through ‘official’ conservation channels? The most prominent of these international conservation organizations even has a large Chinese mammal as its logo. If it wasn’t their job to make sure that the baiji didn’t become extinct, either by providing financial support for conservation projects or by campaigning and generating international pressure to try to force the Chinese authorities to act, then whose was it? Could any of these organizations really justify standing by as an entire species died out?"

"Even worse, although representatives from Conservation International—one of the world’s most important conservation organizations—were apparently integral members of this baiji network, nobody seemed able to identify any major sources of funding to do anything active to save the species."

"A representative of one of the major conservation organizations, which shall remain nameless, told me bluntly over the phone that ‘dollar for dollar, it’s not worth trying to save the Yangtze River dolphin’."

Sad, sad, sad, maybe we should pressure these organisations (and the responsible governments) more when they don't take action. This species (a beautiful dolphin!!!) could have generated public support like the common used tigers, elephants, apes, etc. do.

[surroundx]

Words cannot describe how angry that last quote makes me feel!!!

[Peter]

It made me angry too.

Maybe one of the reasons that they didn't take action:

If capture efforts were to start up again, the death of one of the world’s last Yangtze River dolphins in the hands of an international cetacean vet or capture specialist, as part of a high-profile and controversial conservation project under the close scrutiny of the world, would not only haunt that person for ever but would also not be forgotten by colleagues, funding agencies, or—especially—critics of the whole project. And in a wider context, too, fear of failure was a potent reason for conservation organizations to not want to get involved.

That after this happened (but wasn't successful luckily) with the Californian Condor program, these kind skeptical environmentalists still haven't learned a thing....

[Bowhead Whale]

It's hardly surprising the Baiji Dolphin is extinct because of pollution: just look at all those "Made in China" items we see in stores! With manufactures all located in China, where salaries are low and where no laws against pollution have been voted, the disappearance of the Baiji dolphin was almost unevitable.

[timupham]

China had a plan to move the baiji out of the Yangtze River to tributaries, and place steel grating over the mouths of these tributaries as a last refuge for the baiji. Obviously, China did not go through with this plan, was it because all of the baijis could be captured in the Yangtze, or was it because the pollution could not be kept out of these tributaries?

[Peter]

There were indeed plans for relocation to oxbow lakes for breeding purposes. The reason it did never happen...is politics I guess. Sadly enough ... politics between government and organisations, but also between organisations. Not everybody agreed that it could work, others did not want to disturb the remaining baiji, some were afraid to be blamed for its extinction if it would fail, and others saw it as a last effort to save the species. There was no agreement and time went on...until there were no baiji left to relocate!

Here a quote from Sam Turvey's book "Witness to extinction", which is a letter from WDCS to ZSL that shows this kind of disagreement:

I am writing on behalf of WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, to inform you that we are disappointed to learn yet again of proposed attempts to locate and capture highly endangered Yangtze River dolphins (baiji) in China for proposed relocation to an oxbow lake for breeding purposes. We are equally disappointed to learn of the Zoological Society of London’s involvement in these plans and their proposed management; and that you are currently seeking funding to implement these plans. As far as we are aware, there are no capture experts at the Zoological Society of London to take responsibility for any capture procedures that take place. . . .

Similar proposals for the recovery of the baiji have been planned in China over the last several years. The project would undoubtedly involve large numbers of boats surveying the vast and heavily polluted Yangtze River in search of a dolphin that has seen its habitat slowly destroyed by man, and as a result its numbers have dwindled to fewer than 50. WDCS believes it may well be impossible to find even one baiji. If caught, transportation and relocation could cause great stress for the dolphins and there is also a serious risk of them suffocating or becoming injured in the nets used to capture them. Scientific evidence has demonstrated that dolphin mortality rates increase six-fold immediately after capture from the wild and the baiji appears to be a particularly sensitive species.

A previously flawed plan was attempted in the mid-1990s and failed when those involved succeeded in capturing one solitary female who, after relocation to the so-called reserve, was found dead, entangled in a net and suffering from malnourishment. Many mistakes were made, including allowing finless porpoises to be present in the reserve (possibly bullying the solitary baiji and depriving her of food); fishing was also allowed to continue in the area. Additionally, despite promises that QiQi, a captive male baiji held at the Wuhan dolphinarium, China, would be released into the reserve once a femalewas caught and relocated there, he remained in captivity and has recently died. WDCS is not confident that further attempts at capture and maintenance in captivity of these animals would be successful.

It is devastating to know that the baiji faces certain extinction and, as they are endemic to the Yangtze River, they are unlikely to survive in any other habitat. It is not as simple as relocating them to another environment in the hope they will adapt and survive. At best the proposed reserve could only prolong the lives of specimens of a species (and family) that could not currently be returned to their natural habitat which unfortunately may be beyond help—at this moment man has gone too far in destroying the only home of the baiji. . . .

We respectfully ask you to reconsider your involvement in such a project.

Sam Turvey (who works for the ZSL) writes the following about this letter, I quote:

I don’t know whether the letter left me more appalled or incensed. Much of the text was reproduced from the WDCS website, which also proclaimed that the ‘last remaining river dolphins deserve dignity and respect’. As though having your head staved in by a boat propeller is a dignified end. After all of my involvement and frustrations with baiji conservation efforts, I did not appreciate being patronized by a conservation group who seemed to be prepared to allow a species to die out just because they had a subjective distaste for a recovery strategy which recent international meetings had largely accepted was the only remaining short-term option. I was also surprised at the lack of knowledge shown in the letter; did they not remember thatWestern researchers had assumed for most of the twentieth century that baiji only lived in lakes, for example?

and

We organized a meeting with a representative from WDCS. It went well, I suppose; we discussed the sad necessity for the recovery programme and our exhaustive attempts to ensure that the best international expertise was involved, and that the safest, most ethically acceptable approaches were followed during all times when dolphins were to be handled and managed. After all, the last thing we wanted to do was to stress or injure any of the baiji we might be lucky enough to secure for the breeding population. The WDCS representative accepted our explanations and wished us luck. But by now I felt like Judith in Life of Brian, forever preaching that ‘We’ve got to do something!’ No matter what I did, nobody seemed prepared to listen.

[Melanie]

Most comprehensive genome study of the Baiji is published

Baiji genomes reveal low genetic variability and new insights into secondary aquatic adaptations
Xuming Zhou, Fengming Sun, Shixia Xu, Guangyi Fan, Kangli Zhu, Xin Liu,Yuan Chen,Chengcheng Shi, Yunxia Yang, Zhiyong Huang, Jing Chen, Haolong Hou, Xuejiang Guo, Wenbin Chen, Yuefeng Chen, Xiaohong Wang, Tian Lv, Dan Yang, Jiajian Zhou, Bangqing Huang et al.

Nature Communications 4, Article number: 2708 doi:10.1038/ncomms37


The baiji, or Yangtze River dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), is a flagship species for the conservation of aquatic animals and ecosystems in the Yangtze River of China; however, this species has now been recognized as functionally extinct. Here we report a high-quality draft genome and three re-sequenced genomes of L. vexillifer using Illumina short-read sequencing technology. Comparative genomic analyses reveal that cetaceans have a slow molecular clock and molecular adaptations to their aquatic lifestyle. We also find a significantly lower number of heterozygous single nucleotide polymorphisms in the baiji compared to all other mammalian genomes reported thus far. A reconstruction of the demographic history of the baiji indicates that a bottleneck occurred near the end of the last deglaciation, a time coinciding with a rapid decrease in temperature and the rise of eustatic sea level.

www.nature.com/ncomms/2013/131029/ncomms3708/full/ncomms3708.html

[surroundx]

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/dolphins/chinese-river-dolphin.html

[Melanie]

Video clip of the Baiji from the Natural History Museum

[surroundx]

Sighting of Yangtze River Dolphin Believed Functionally Extinct

Amateur investigators have reported spotting what they believe to be a baiji dolphin in a stretch of the Yangtze river in eastern China. The animal was declared “functionally extinct” in 2006 after researchers from six countries failed to find a single dolphin, and concluded there were too few left to save the species.

At around 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, the team of 11 saw what looked like a dolphin in the Yangtze river close to the city of Wuhu, in Anhui province, while on a one-week expedition to look for the animal. The dolphin jumped out of the water in easy view of one of the team’s boats, which was around 100 meters away. People on the team’s second boat, which was around 300 meters away, also saw the animal.

According to Song Qi, the leader of the expedition, the animal breached the surface of the water more than once, allowing the team to get a good look at it. “I saw most of the body, and the second time around I saw its mouth and head,” Song said in a telephone interview with Sixth Tone. Song was on the second boat which was further away, but team members on the first boat got a better look at the creature. “The front boat saw it three times,” Song said. Song estimated that altogether six people on the investigation team saw the animal.

Read more: www.sixthtone.com/news/sighting-yangtze-river-dolphin-believed-extinct

[Melanie]

China's 'extinct' dolphin may have returned to Yangtze river, say conservationists

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/11/china-extinct-dolphin-returned-yangtze-river-baiji

[surroundx]

time.com/4526704/extinct-dolphin-spotted-yangtze-river/

[Melanie]

Reported Sighting of Extinct River Dolphin is Unlikely

Amateur conservationists say they may have seen a Yangtze river dolphin in China. Here's why you should be skeptical.

www.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/reported-sighting-of-extinct-river-dolphin-is-unlikely.aspx

[surroundx]

Primack, Richard B. (2007). The Yangtze River dolphin is extinct: what is the message? Journal of Plant Ecology 31(3): 544-545. [automatic download]

[surroundx]

Good summary of the species from the late 1980's to early 1990's:

Klinowska, Margaret. (1991). Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the World. The IUCN Red Data Book. Cambridge, U.K. & Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. viii + 429 pp.