Tribute to the Goddess of the Yangtze

The Yangtze river dolphin is but one example of the indiscriminate destruction that our kind infilicts every waking minute on the very world it depends on. I believe that much, much more could have been done to protect this unique and wonderful species.

Near the end of the video you see a captive finless porpoise. There are fewer than 400 of these animals surviving in the Yangtze river, and the death of the baiji species should create greater pressure to save them from the same fate.

The song is "Raindrops", composed by Roy Phillips.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• baiji
• yangtze
• river
• dolphin
• china
• extinct
• death
• goddess
• cetacean
• freshwater
• asia

[ceramiclion]

the point most people seem to forget is that ALL life on this planet has to respected whether its endangered or not.

This dolphin is a prime example of that. When finally people started taking notice it was too late and the baiji is gone forever. Its just too bad this poor species had the bad luck of being from china, with their messed up corrupt socialist B.S still goin strong even after the USSR collapsed.

[zingtea]

It wasn't socialism that did it, it was industry for the most part.

[tubeneophyte]

From this film "we will not make the same mistake again... if we stay awake long enough"

I can not imagine what the author could possibly mean by that.

It is our mere existence and the proliferation of "western" culture that establishes that we will be the cause of extinction for many other species.

[zingtea]

By "awake" I meant "aware" of the problems we're causing.

[m23c14r03]

we can still do something about this.. if only people would give a damn instead of thinking trvial stuff... :((

[finch6789]

there was one but it died of old age. I think it's horrible that they knew this species was in dire straits since the 70's and they didn't lift a finger. Billions of dollars goes to their beloved Pandas but they let something like this that has been around for 20 millions years just die off. makes me ill.

[draw4kicks]

This is a very sad story about these beautiful creatures, but not a hopeless one. A recent sighting of about 20 of these animals in the wild gives some hope for a wild population. Even so special facilities still hold healthy frozen DNA from some of the last captive yangzte river dolphin. This makes it likely that in a relatively small number of years we could indeed clone (yes literally clone) new specimans and implant fertalised egg cells into a similar species. So stay optimistic, i am.

[MasterSvr1]

baiji will never be forgotten

[Jimboman300]

@zingtea Yet typically countries with larger governments have worse environmental records. Capitalism forces businesses to run as efficiently as possible which eliminates wastes. Capitalism also can turn endangered species into commodities that give businesses a fiancial motive to protect them. Free Markets are the best way to preserve creatures like the Baiji Dolphin

[stavparavxavier]

In loving memory of the yangze river dolphin....I do hope that other Asian creatures are not wiped out such as the Chinese alligator and also the Japanese should stop whaling and cetacean slaughter it's brutal..the Asian nation should stop killing animals

[Believe13at]

My favorite river dolphin of all.People need to open their eyes and see how beautiful this creature was. How many more must die off before humans finally get the message? A beautiful animal gone forever. Lets not have any more regrets.

[1nerdykid]

@bombarderoazul what the hell, u need a brain

[bombarderoazul]

The problem with China is that it's overpulated, there are also only about 200 chinese alligators left in the wild. Tigers, bears and just about every animal in chinal is in serious danger of becoming extinct because with so many people more land has to be used for agriculture, cities, etc. I don't know why asian race and hindu race reproduce so much. They should imitate caucasian race that doesn't reproduce so much.

[dolphinsrockful]

sadly the reason that they r extinct is because the Chinese built the yangtez river dam sooooooo sad ;( I was crying when I founded out

[deasinroo]

The second photo is a beaked whale, perhaps longman's. just thought you should know :-)

[BlondeCurlsBlueEyes]

Poor things :( The worst of it is, people won't learn. they never do. In the next century, most wildlife besides humans will die out becuse of us. And then humans will die a slow, agonising death of starvation when all the poor animals are gone, and their spirits will be laughing as nature exacts sweet vengeance on us all. I hope all the poachers and over-fishers really suffer