Endangered animal-Yangtze Finless Porpoise

Yangtze Finless Porpoise

Info

-rounded head and are a dark to pale grey
colour
-have moderately large flippers
-weight up to 72 kg
-length 6.2 feet
-can’t breathe under water, so have to come
to the surface regularly to breathe air like you
-mischievous smile and has a level of
intelligence comparable to that of a gorilla

The facts

The facts Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia, used to be
one of the only two rivers in the world that was home to two
different species of dolphin-the Yangtze Finless Porpoise
and the Baiji dolphin. In 2006 Baiji Dolphin was declared
functionally extinct. This was the first time in history that an
entire species of dolphin has been wiped off the planet
because of human activity. Its close cousin, the Yangtze
Finless Porpoise, is known for its mischievous smile and
has a level of intelligence comparable to that of a gorilla.

The stories about Yangtze Finless Porpoise

As the story goes, a lonely Chinese princess was to be married to a man she didn’t
love. When the princess refused, her father pushed her into the Yangtze River.
Princess Baiji drowned, but the river took pity on her and reincarnated her into a
dolphin. For millennia, the so-called Goddess of the Yangtze pulsed her slender
body through the river’s currents.
But in the past four decades, the goddess was again betrayed. As China soared to
new economic heights, the Baiji dolphin was ill-equipped to fend for herself. Fishing
nets and boat propellers came after her, increasingly toxic waters poisoned her
food, human fishers took a hefty share of what was left, and the Three Gorges Dam
sealed her fate. By the beginning of this century she succumbed, becoming the first
dolphin driven to extinction by humans.
Remarkably, the baiji’s less-storied cousin still swims the river. The Yangtze finless
porpoise is fleshy and rotund, its mouth fixed in a permanent grin. Nicknamed “river
pig” by locals, it has long been rumoured to repel any weapons hurled at it. Thus
far, this eternally smiling kung fu master of the river has survived the environmental
assaults that conquered the baiji dolphin. But the myth of its invincibility is just that.

Threats of Yangtze Finless Porpoise

Finless porpoises need an abundant food supply for survival. The destruction of the
Baiji dolphin food supply was central to its extinction. Overfishing is the main factor
that contributes to the decrease in finless porpoises’ food supply, but pollution and
ship movement are factors as well.

Overfishing Water Pollution Ship movement

What is WWF is doing

-reconnected more than 40 floodplain lakes with the main stem of the Yangtze
River to restore seasonal flows and allow the migration of species, like the
finless porpoise, between the lakes and the river. This contributes to a secure
food supply for the Yangtze finless porpoise

-provide fishermen with feasible alternatives for income generation. This helps
to develop the economy, stop overfishing and allows fishermen to contribute to
the protection of the finless porpoise.

Why they so important?

Porpoises play an important role in keeping their environment healthy. They eat fish
and other river creatures, which would otherwise increase in number and
unbalance the local food chain.
Equally, porpoises are a good indicator of the health of their environment – if the
river is overfished or polluted, the porpoises struggle to survive.
By protecting these porpoises we’re helping preserve healthy rivers and lakes –
which a lot of people heavily rely on for food, provision of clean water and as
source of livelihoods.

Protect it!!

How can you help? Yangtze Finless Porpoise
1)Don’t litter/otherwise
destroy sensitive habitats

2)Don’t dump paint, oil or
antifreeze or other chemicals
to the water.

3)Join organize in the annual
Stop Extinction Challenge.

4)Be vocal

World Wildlife Fund Inc. is a non-
profit, tax-exempt charitable
organization (tax ID number 52-
1693387) under Section 501(c)(3) of
the Internal Revenue Code. Donations
are tax-deductible as allowed by law.