Top 10 most endangered animals in China
- By Yang Xi
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 8, 2012
White-Flag Dolphin
The White-Flag Dolphin, described as a "living fossil" and native to China, is at extremely high-risk of extinction and may already be extinct due to the deterioration of its living environment in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River.
Status:
The White-Flag Dolphin is listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1996. The last sight of the animal was in 2002 and a survey on the endangered animal in 2006 failed to find one.
Geographic Distribution:
The White-Flag Dolphin, also called as "giant panda in water," is the world's rarest dolphin found. They only live in Yangtze River, the longest river in China.
You may not know:
The dolphin, or baiji, can only live in freshwater and has very poor eyesight. Ancestors of the White-Flag Dolphin can be tracked back more than 20 million years. The Yangtze River used to be an Eden for White-Flag Dolphins that in the past there were several thousand of them living in the river.
In the past, human beings and the aquatic mammals lived together peacefully. Residents along the river respected the silver-grey dolphin as "Yangtze River's Goddess" and prayed to them for good fishing.
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