Chinese survey team looks for rare white-flag dolphins
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E-mail Xinhua, November 13, 2012
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The white-flag dolphin, living in China's Yangtze River, was declared extinct in 2007. [File photo] |
Scientists who are conducting a survey of endangered finless porpoises on the Yangtze River said Monday that they also hope to find white-flag dolphins, a native species that was declared extinct in 2007.
The survey team, who started its research on Sunday, reached a white-flag dolphin nature reserve in central China's Hubei Province on Monday.
"It is not impossible to find white-flag dolphins on the Yangtze River. It's one of the main goals of our survey," said Wang Ding, head of the survey team.
In 2006, a similar survey by Chinese and foreign scientists failed to find white-flag dolphins on the Yangtze River, China's longest.
In 2007, scientists announced that white-flag dolphins had gone "functionally extinct," meaning that the population is too small for the species to effectively reproduce.
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