Wildlife
Due to commercial use of the river, tourism, and pollution, the Yangtze is home to at least four critically endangered species of large animals: The Chinese Alligator, the Finless Porpoise, the Chinese Paddlefish, and the Yangtze River Dolphin (Baiji). This is the only other place besides the United States that is native to an alligator and paddlefish species. The Finless Porpoise were counted in 2010 to be 1000 exemplars. In December 2006, the Yangtze River Dolphin was declared functionally extinct after an extensive search of the river revealed no signs of the dolphin's inhabitance. In 2007, a large, white animal was sighted and photographed in the lower Yangtze, and was tentatively presumed to be a Baiji. However, as there have been no confirmed sightings since 2004, the Baiji is presumed to be functionally extinct at this time.
Read more about this topic: Yangtze River
Famous quotes containing the word wildlife:
“Russian forests crash down under the axe, billions of trees are dying, the habitations of animals and birds are layed waste, rivers grow shallow and dry up, marvelous landscapes are disappearing forever.... Man is endowed with creativity in order to multiply that which has been given him; he has not created, but destroyed. There are fewer and fewer forests, rivers are drying up, wildlife has become extinct, the climate is ruined, and the earth is becoming ever poorer and uglier.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)