just weeks after the annoauncement that the bajji is extinct, there are still reports comming through saying they are not, and expert belive they are not extinct either. but dont be excited, more than likely, they will be extinct due to excessive human encroachment- not nice. read in todays daily telegraph China reports sighting of 'extinct' dolphin | The Daily Telegraph 'Back from extinction' - Environment - smh.com.au Chinese river dolphin may not be extinct: expert - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
I read about it on the BBC site. A local on the river saw it jumping so filmed it as he had never seen anything like it before and did not know what it was.
The first study wasn't good enough to conclude they were extinct, it was only over a small strech of the river for a mere six weeks. It is also noted that for them to be official decarled extinct there has to be no sightings for 50 years. As Zoo boy said only one sighting is enough evidence. Who knows but lets not job on either band wagon!
Quote "Professor Ding says based on anecdotal evidence, he remains confident the dolphins are still out there. "I'm pretty much sure there are a few of them left somewhere in the Yangtze River," he said. "I keep receiving reports from fishermen, they say they saw a couple of baiji somewhere, sometime. "But unfortunately most of them cannot be confirmed, and the Yangtze River is a big river, so I really cannot say the Baiji is already gone, there is no baiji left at all, I really cannot say that." Unquote Still hope for the Chinese baiji, be it anecdotal and not scientifically verified. If it survives it is in the very low numbers that make direct observations highly unlikely. The most serious threat to their continued existence is human exploitation of the Yang Ze river basin and pollution. Only if the Chinese authorities seriously implement a long term recovery plan that underpins the threats to the baiji and its environment does it stand a chance of surviving the 21st century. Remember however that even the aquatic protected area instituted for them did not safeguard a future for them! As to your remark that a species has to go unrecorded for 50 years before it may be declared extinct is untrue. F.i. the Arabian oryx was officially declared extinct in 1976 when continuous surveys failed to find any survivors from the last Omani-Yemeni border herds. Since then it has been listed for quite a while on IUCN's Red List as EXT. Interestingly, this refutes the claim that no large vertebrate animal has gone extinct on earth in the last 50 years. It is simply hogwash and sadly .. very sadly the Oryx leucoryx was not the only one! Fortunately, it does not mean a species may not resurface. This goes in particular for the tropical rainforests that still harbour many secrets (e.g. Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Congo, Gabon, Brasil, Ecuador-Bolivia-Peru). Sometimes even new species may be discovered (Madagascar, Vietnam, Congo are recent examples). And even the Tasmanian wolf might still be around (continuous infrequent anecdotal records in Tasmania, quite reliable reports from SE- Oz and PNG)! Maybe we could start a new thread on this ...... I don't know!!!
Extinct or not to be extinct Just re-read the original report. Tis not declared extinct. What the experts actually reported was that the baiji was critically endangered and POSSIBLY extinct. According to IUCN criteria (critically endangered): "A taxon is Critically Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Critically Endangered (see Section V), and it is therefore considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild". In layman's terms you have to think along the lines of an 80% reduction in population size, severely fragmented habitat or single location and continuing or expected decline.
I read in one article that said IUCN's Red list will not list them as extinct untill atleast 50 years had passed without any confirmed sightings!
taun, It is not the IUCN Red List that decides what category a species should be assigned to. It is the world's scientists that evaluate each species on the basis of these internationally recognized conservation criteria. When the Chinese-British Baiji survey team failed to find a baiji during their expedition, they scored the baiji as critically endangered and not extinct. They determined more survey work was needed and simply there was no reasonable doubt to make any "extinct" assessment possible. So for your eyes only: IUCN denotes as EXTINCT (EX) "A taxon is Extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. A taxon is presumed Extinct when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual. Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the taxon's life cycle and life form".
"yaaaaAAAAWN! mmmm, maybe we should schedule another survey? next year cool for you?" thats my impression of the conservationists trying to save the baiji.....
i found that on iucn page about baiji . 2007–Critically Endangered 2006–Critically Endangered (IUCN 2006) 2006–Critically Endangered 1996–Critically Endangered 1994–Endangered (Groombridge 1994) 1990–Endangered (IUCN 1990) 1988-Endangered (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988) 1986–Endangered (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986)
it also says: In addition to the above considerations, which justify CR, this species may already be extinct (Possibly Extinct (PE)). The last documented sighting (supported by photographic evidence) was in 2002 and the last confirmed stranding was in 2001 (Turvey et al. in prep.). In November and December 2006 a comprehensive visual and acoustic survey failed to find a single Baiji in the Yangtze River (Turvey et al. in prep.). Two research vessels covered the known habitat of baiji from Yichang to Shanghai in both the upstream and downstream directions (for quadruple coverage). In addition, one vessel towed a hydrophone to listen for Baiji whistles and clicks during the downstream survey. Although Dongting and Poyang lakes were not covered in the 2006 Yangtze mainstem survey, no Baiji have been seen since 2000 by researchers studying Finless Porpoises in those lakes. A few undocumented sightings have been reported since 2004, but there are no photographs or physical evidence for the species? continued existence. The preponderance of evidence indicates that the Baiji is very close to extinction or may already be extinct. And the page hasn't been updated since 2008 so does not include the latest assessments of it being extinct.
Lipotes vexillifer (Changjiang Dolphin, Chinese Lake Dolphin, Whitefin Dolphin, White Flag Dolphin, Yangtze River Dolphin) The last publishment was in 2008. They still say it's Critically Endangered with ans says nothing about the page needing updating like it does for some species. They say it's probably the rarest cetacean in the world.
