The finless porpoise, also known as the “giant panda of the water” may become extinct in five to ten years, scientists predict, due to a deteriorating water environment decreasing the species’ population by an average of 13.7 percent each year.
According to a report by CRIENGLISH.com, there were around 2,000 finless porpoises in China in 2006, but research has shown that only around 1,000 were left in 2012.
As the only freshwater sub-species of the whole porpoise family, the finless porpoise sits at the top of the food chain in the Yangtze River.
Zhang Zhenhua, the vice director of the management office at Tian’ezhou Baiqi Dolphin Nature Reserve, explains why protecting this animal is so important.
“To protect the finless porpoise is to protect ourselves. The animal is at the top of the pyramid in the Yangtze River ecosystem. The absence of the finless porpoise from the river would indicate the decay of the ecosystem. The Yangtze River is our mother river and our lives depend upon it. It also indicates industrial and agricultural pollution has made the creatures disappear in the river and it will finally become a stagnant pool.”
Currently, 39 finless porpoises live in the Tian’ezzhou Baiqi Dolphin Nature Reserve, the only off-site conservation reserve for the species around the world.
Zhang points to heavy pollution from human industrial and agricultural activities as a cause for the finless porpoise population decline. He also says that a lack food plays a role.
“Fish is the main food for the finless porpoise, and there has not been enough fish recently,” Zhang was quoted as saying in the report.
“Humans leave a lot of leftovers in the water around the dock area, which attracts a lot of fish who go there to feed. Finless porpoises are willing to risk injury and even death to catch the fish at such places where they have never gone before.”
A report by the IB Times says that the finless porpoise’s poor hearing may also be to blame for their endangerment.
“We want to understand how they may be impacted by noise,” said Aran Mooney, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and a lead author on the study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, said in a statement.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), Yangtze finless porpoises are considered critically endangered. Major threats to their livelihood include habitat loss, boat traffic and pollution. At times, the animals get caught in boat propellers and fishing gear frequently used in the Yangtze River. Boat noise also affects their ability to hear and forage for food.
“In a noisy environment, they’d have a hard time hearing their prey or their friend. It makes it more difficult for them to conduct basic biological activities such as foraging, communicating, and navigating in the river,” Mooney said.
The Yangtze River was also once home to the now-extinct Baiji dolphin, whose population decline was also suspected to be human-related.
[Image via China.org.cn]