Skip to main content

10 Animals on the edge of extinction, You did not know about no.1 - Yangtze Finless Porpoise

The first animal of this series is the Yangtze finless porpoise, a dolphin living in fresh water in southern China in the Yangtze river. It is one of the very few dolphins living in fresh water and the only species left in the Yangtze river. Unfortunately, the porpoise is facing extinction.

What is it?

The Yangtze finless porpoise is a dolphin species living in the Yangtze River in southern China. It is one of the very few dolphin species that live in freshwater, and the only one that survived in the Yangtze river after the Baiji Dolphin was declared functionally extinct in 2006. It characteristically is about 2 meters long, has no fins -as the name suggests- and no beak. Its mouth however is curved upwards like a smile, giving the Porpoise and cute and friendly face. It feeds on small fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Sadly, the Yangtze finless Porpoise is considered "critically endangered" as there are only about 1000 of them left. 

Why is it dying out?

The Yangtze finless porpoise is facing multiple dangers from all sides. All of them, unfortunately, are human-made, as we make the waters they live in extremely dangerous. The Yangtze river is their only natural habitat, making it too dangerous there for the Porpoise, which is basically directly killing them. The river is a major travelling and fishing as well as trading route and therefore full of boats at all times.

 Often Porpoises get injured or even killed by boats or their gear, especially fishing gear. Like so many other marine animals, Porpoises often get entangled in fishing nets and drown, as they can only hold their breath for up to 4 minutes. But even if they do not drown, the fishing itself is bad enough.

 Overfishing to be precise, as the Porpoise needs a big supply of food that we fish away with no second thought, resulting in a lack of food for the Porpoise. Additionally, we pollute the river so much with all the boats on the river and the plastic we throw away, that they really suffer from that. Experts believe that, if no major action is taken, the Porpoise will be passed within the next century.

How can I help?

I know all of that sounds like a situation that cannot be saved. However, we can definitely make an effort to improve all of these very serious issues. The main issues are overfishing, pollution and injuries due to boats or their gear. Again, this sounds like you as an individual cannot make a difference, especially if you do not live in China, but that is not true! Here are many different things you could do to support the porpoises:


1) Overfishing is generally an important topic to keep in the back of your head when buying fish to eat because there are many things you can keep an eye on to buy the environmentally friendliest fish you can. The first and most obvious choice to make is where you buy your fish. Is it the Organic market or the really cheap supermarket from next door? Other questions to ask yourself are: Where in the world was the fish caught? Has it been transported a long way, emitting lots and lots of CO2 and do you have access to local fish? How was it caught? 

This question might make little sense to some of you, but let me tell you this: really cheap fish is often caught with gigantic boats that drag massive nets behind them through the ocean, that not only catches the fish they want to catch, but also many other marine species that are often endangered. Or there are these farms underwater that breed the fish and then sell them. And obviously, the traditional way of fishing one fish at a time is the most sustainable. Especially if you fish them yourself. But many people do not have the opportunity to do so, so a good idea would be to look out for the MSC label. The MSC label is a label you can get on seafood in over 100 countries, certifying that the seafood you buy has been fished sustainably. You exactly what that means and what the standards are for the MSC sets, you can check them out on the website. I will link it below (1).

If you are interested in doing your part in stopping overfishing I would also take a look at the Sustainable Development Goals website, I will also link below (2). Both websites have information and tips from experts on the topic and are really detailed and interesting. 


2) Pollution. We all are aware of this problem, it really isn't new. What can I say, apart from the stuff you hear all the time? Reduce materials such as plastic and paper/cardboard in daily life as much as you can, plant Vegetation wherever you are, and reduce, reuse, recycle and upcycle as much as you can. Save energy, and use the car as little as possible...I believe we also have an article on being sustainable in daily life. If not, I will write one soon. Try not to travel so much, though I am probably really not the right person to ask something like that.


3) Injuries due to boats of their gear. That topic is rather hard because there really isn't that much you can do when you are not there. But when you are there, think of the Porpoise, and avoid a boat tour if you can. The most important and efficient thing is always: If you can do nothing else, share the information with people! It seems like a small thing to do, but the more people know, the better!

Where can I learn more?

I got my information on the Porpoise from WWF (World Wildlife Fund):
https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-01/WWF_WiW_2017_Factsheet_Yangtze%20Finless%20Porpoise%20FINAL.pdf
https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/yangtze-finless-porpoise

Information on Overfishing:
(1) https://www.msc.org/
(2) https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/14-life-below-water/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/critical-issues-overfishing


If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us!

MK💚💦🐟🐬



Image: Yangtze River, China, owned by Kyla Duhamel (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The environmental impact of the paper industry - is paper really the solution?

Hello everyone, First of all: Merry Christmas or Hannukah! I hope you are all enjoying your holidays and this special time of year. Today we'll be looking into the paper industry because lots of people are arguing about whether paper bags are better than plastic ones. We looked into it for you, enjoy! Acid rain In the production of pulp and paper, nitrogen oxides (NO X ) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) are produced. Both of these are contributors to acid rain, which is not quite as terrible as it sounds but still quite bad. Acid rain is rain, fog, snow or hail that is acidic. It's formed by NO X  & SO 2 reacting with water and oxygen which will turn them into nitrous acid (HNO 2 ), nitric acid (HNO 3 ) & sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ), meaning that instead of rain being formed from just water, it is instead also mixed with acid. While acid rain won't harm you, it can harm aquatic ecosystems and forests. When the rain falls on water, it w...

Ecosia

We all need to do something to save our planet: it is no use just leaving it to Greta Thunberg! She is very inspirational, yes, but she can only do so much. She isn't superhuman! The climate crisis is up to us; up to you. We all have to get stuck in. Research, learn, discover and most importantly: never give up! The world's animals need us. The world's trees need us and a simple way to do this is to switch to Ecosia. Ecosia is a search engine but it plants trees while you search the web. Okay, it doesn't have as many websites as google so you may want to have google as a backup but it plants trees: this is your opportunity to make a simple change. Just google Ecosia and search to plant trees. Make a difference. Image: This image  is owned by  Binyamin Mellish on  pexels.com .

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...

Rachel Carson 1907-1964

Hi everybody, Today I am going to tell you about a really inspirational environmentalist. Her name is Rachel Carson. I hope her story inspires you to be more careful about pesticides. As a girl, Rachel adored writing stories about animals. She got a degree in zoology but had to go home to care for her ageing mother. She wrote a series of radio shows about fish for a living. Rachel's program, called 'Romance Under Waters', was a big hit. Her ways of writing were different to anyone else and no one had made that sound so interesting before. It proved that she was talented in not only science but also writing. She wrote two books called 'The Sea Around Us' and 'The Edge Of The Sea'. When Rachel moved to the countryside, she realized the impact of pesticides. At that time farmers sprayed chemicals on their fields a lot to protect them from animals that may want to eat them. Rachel worked out that they were killing pla...

Announcement: Factfile

This image is owned by a blog editor.

Animals 46-50 in our '50 incredible animals' series

Hi everyone! Welcome to the final part in our '50 Incredible Animal series' where you can find out about animals 46-50. We started this series almost a year ago to celebrate our 50th post and it feels crazy to think that we are now nearing our 100th. To read all of the previous posts from this series, click here . Hope you enjoy it! 46. Spiny bush viper Spiny bush vipers, Atheris hispida, are a species of venomous snake native to Central and East Africa in tropical forests and shrubland. They are mostly solitary creatures but can climb trees, which is where they find the majority of their prey. Spiny bush vipers are carnivorous and feed on mammals, frogs and lizards, as well as birds. Independent from birth, Spiny bush vipers can have up to 12 'snakelets' at a time and are 15cm in length. Currently, there are no known threats to Spiny bush vipers, and they are categorized as Not Evaluated on the IUCN Red List. 47. Leafy sea dragon ...

Announcement: Galápagos Islands

Ways to help make your household environmentally friendly

We have told you a bit about the problems that the environment is facing in previous posts but we haven’t told you how to help the environment around the house. You don’t even need a garden to make a difference! Ways to help stop global warming Tip 1: Turn the lights off when you leave a room. Tip 2: Walk or cycle on short journeys. Tip 3:  Don’t have the windows open and the heaters on at the same time. Tip 4: Never leave your engine running Tip 5: If you can, buy an electric car as these produce less Co2.   Ways to help stop plastic pollution  Tip 1: Buy a water bottle. It seems simple but every year the UK uses an estimated 13 billion plastic bottles. Tip 2: Use a bar of soap and a bar of shampoo instead of shower gel and bottled shampoo. Some say soap can dry your skin out but if you do your research you can find plastic-free high-quality soap, perhaps at a price but it depends on where you get it from. Tip 3: Make...

Announcement: Animal of the week