Within the last month and a half,
the corpes of 12 endangered finless porpoises, including a pregnant one, have been
found around Dongting Lake, Hunan province.
It has triggered worries from
experts about the rare species possibly becoming extinct.
Scientists said finless
porpoises, which have lived in the Yangtze River and adjacent lakes for more
than 20 million years, will become extinct within 15 years. The porpoises are
also called “river pigs”.
“Apparently the prolonged drought
and low water level due to climate change and increasing offshore human
activities are reducing the living space for finless porpoises, accelerating
their extinction,” said Wang Kexiong, an expert of the Institute of
Hydrobiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Xie Yongjun, an associate
professor of animal husbandry at Yueyang Vocational and Technical College, said
the porpoises may have died due to starvation, poisoning or infectious disease.
The Yueyang bureau of aquatic
products and animal husbandry is also testing the water in Dongting Lake. A
report is expected soon.
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