China reports sighting of "extinct" dolphin

[Hawkeye-X]

Source: Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man has videotaped a large white animal swimming in the Yangtze river, which experts say is a dolphin species unique to China and feared extinct, the official Xinhua agency reported on Wednesday.

The last confirmed sighting of the long-beaked, nearly blind baiji was in 2004. After an international team failed to find a single dolphin on a six-week expedition last year the species was classified as critically endangered and possibly extinct.

But the video from central Anhui province may renew slender hopes for the survival of the creatures also known as white-flag dolphins and traditionally considered a deity by local people.

"I never saw such a big thing in the water before, so I filmed it," dolphin-spotter Zeng Yujiang told Xinhua. "It was about 1,000 meters (yards) away and jumped out of water several times."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSPEK27670720070830?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&sp=true&rpc=92

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So there is a glimmer of hope, after all. Long live the baiji

[Ian David]

1. They also confirmed that The Yangtze River Dolphin tastes just as delicious as they remember.

Maw and Paw BAD!

[Beausoleil]

2. I'm sure Chinese industrialists promised

to poison it as soon as possible.

[SteppingRazor]

3. If they can track them down, they ought to capture every baiji they can.

At this point, I think leaving them to the horrifically polluted and overfished waters of Chinese rivers is simply letting them go extinct. I recall when I was a kid in California maybe 20 years ago and they captured the last wild California condor. Only about two dozen birds were still alive, and all of them were put into a breeding program at a zoo. I think there's about 300 of them now, many in the wild.

Obviously, the condor and the baiji are vastly different, and I don't know how the dolphins would do in a breeding program, but it's probably their only hope.

[YOY]

5. Wouldn't that be nice...

n/t

[Ian David]

4. "...a large white animal... I never saw such a big thing in the water before..."

Oh.

My.

Gawd.

[xchrom]

6. now see -- i thought that was the loch nazi monster?

see -- what do i know?

[arewenotdemo]

9. Thanx for the reminder of what turns California Pukes

and, apparently, some Dems on.

:puke:

[tchunter]

7. "...a large white animal... I never saw such a big thing in the water before..."

paging Captain Ahab and Queequay

[sam sarrha]

8. it was killed and fed to an old man to see if it gave him a hard-on.. sorry i couldnt stop myself,

:sarcasm: