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After surviving 20 million years, China's goddess of the river driven to extinction

B

BoyBach

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 24, 2006
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For 20 million years, the white-fin dolphin, or baiji, swam China's longest river, the Yangtze. But a few years of breakneck development, overfishing and a massive increase in shipping have reduced sightings of this shy, graceful creature to zero.

A recent expedition failed to spot a single Lipotes vexillifer, and now conservationists fear the almost-blind, long-beaked animal is gone for good, the first big aquatic mammal to become extinct due to human activity.

"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 the joint leader of the expedition, August Pfluger, an economist who runs the Swiss-based baiji.org, an environmental group dedicated to saving the dolphins.
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The Independent


The price of progress?
 
Saw this headline today too:

Jungle secrets: 52 new species found in Borneo's 'Lost World'

More than 50 new species of animals and plants that have never been seen before have been discovered in a 'Lost World' on the island of Borneo in just 18 months, say scientists.

Among them are two tree frogs, a whole range of plants and trees and 30 brand new types of fish including a tiny one less than a centimetre long and a catfish with an adhesive belly that allows it to stick to rocks.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...ogy.html?in_article_id=423523&in_page_id=1965
 
The Mad Kiwi said:
I think at this point in history we're well past the thin end when it come to extinction.
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Yep. 90% of species on Earth will be gone in 100 years. Coral bleaching, bottom trawling and pollution ought to pretty much kill off the ocean food chain. Deforestation, desertification and pollution will do the same on land.

All thanks to one particularly stupid and selfish type of ape which thinks it's better than all the other species. And even then they won't get it.
 
emotion said:
I can't help but think that buying Chinese made goods (ie. all computers) isn't a good thing.
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If it wasn't China it would be elsewhere. Unless we start making things on the Moon it's always going to cause some form of damage. Our problem stems from our obsession with getting rid of things simply because there's something newer available instead of waiting until we need to replace the old one. And I know, I'm as guilty of that as everyone else.

Well, that and there being about twice as many people as the planet can sensibly support anyway. Every time an extra one of us is born, we take the room that another creature used to occupy.
 
Just out of curiousity, (trust me, not starting anything here)... While I do think it is sad that animals die off, hasnt this been happening for millions and millions of years? No matter how many die off or how bad the earth's ecosystem is damaged, life finds a way to go on. Its even sadder to think that animals are dieing because of man's greed and "advancement", but if it wasnt one thing, it would be another. Us, an asteroid, evolution... :(


I'll poor some Colt 45 on the curb for my fallen dolphin hommies and keep my fingers crossed that they arent totally gone yet, just rare.
 
humans arent exactly the best thing to happen to earth. the real sad part is that prolly by the time enough ppl are willing to make a change it will be too late.
 
Mr. Durden said:
Just out of curiousity, (trust me, not starting anything here)... While I do think it is sad that animals die off, hasnt this been happening for millions and millions of years? No matter how many die off or how bad the earth's ecosystem is damaged, life finds a way to go on. Its even sadder to think that animals are dieing because of man's greed and "advancement", but if it wasnt one thing, it would be another. Us, an asteroid, evolution... :(


I'll poor some Colt 45 on the curb for my fallen dolphin hommies and keep my fingers crossed that they arent totally gone yet, just rare.
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For me, it's the fact that we are robbing ourselves of these wonderful pleasures of living in a world that is filled with wonderful things, but we choose instead to concrete over them, usually for selfish advances in monetary gains.

Have you ever looked around at a particuarly nasty hell-hole of a town/city and wondered if you just simply removed the fact that this city existed what was here before? What simply beautiful natural things were there before?
 
Maxiseller said:
Have you ever looked around at a particuarly nasty hell-hole of a town/city and wondered if you just simply removed the fact that this city existed what was here before? What simply beautiful natural things were there before?
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Surely though the irony is that man is part of nature?

Beavers have not yet had the necessity to build huge damns, nor ants construct massive mounds to house their ever expanding colonies, for example.

This does not exclude humans from exercising their judgement, indeed it should be an imperative given homo sapiens unique position.
 
Soton Speed said:
Surely though the irony is that man is part of nature?
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Man is part of nature, but believes himself above it. Hence we think our needs outweigh everything else's and start doing utterly stupid things like bottom trawling.
 
dynamicv said:
Man is part of nature, but believes himself above it. Hence we think our needs outweigh everything else's and start doing utterly stupid things like bottom trawling.
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Although I agree with your point, I don't think that any species gives thought to how their actions affect nature either. i.e. my beagle would single-handedly hunt squirrels to extinction if he had the ability ;)
 
aristobrat said:
Although I agree with your point, I don't think that any species gives thought to how their actions affect nature either. i.e. my beagle would single-handedly hunt squirrels to extinction if he had the ability ;)
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But your Beagle has no concept of the future or the damage he would be doing in his actions, so you can't really blame him.

Humans on the other hand have plenty of conceptual skills.
 
Perhaps the Chinese were operating on information gained in articles from a reliable scientific reference here in the U.S.A.

Article 1

Article 2

Seriously though, this is sad news, but only one among many soon to come. Its time to decide whether to embrace the feeling of helplessness, or to start looking at similar issues close to home and embracing a feeling of responsibility, and then getting involved.
 
emotion said:
I agree, though the Chinese aren't exactly hot on environmental issues. Then again most places aren't that much better.
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Well, I don't know. Economic development is Priority One in China. Conservation probably doesn't even rank. The Three Gorges Dam (also on the Yangtze) was generally regarded as an environmental catastrophe, but the Chinese government went ahead with it anyway. Note also from the article that conservationists consider the Yangtze to be a dead river. It takes quite of bit of official not caring to kill a river that big.
 
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