The possible sighting of a dolphin has been reported by 11 amateur investigators who purposefully undertook an expedition to track down any dolphins that might be residing in the vast river. The news has been reported to official (that is, government run) Chinese news agency Sixth Tone.
The Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia and the third-longest in the world, coming in at just under 4,000 miles in length. The origin of the Yangtze River has been dated by some geologists to about 45 million years ago in the Eocene era.
The Yangtze River dolphin is also known as the baiji dolphin (which means ‘white dolphin’), and it was declared extinct in 2006. The baiji population declined drastically in decades as China industrialized and made heavy use of the river for fishing, transportation and hydroelectricity.
A dolphin has possibly been detected. The report describes a dolphin jumping out of the water close to the observation boats. Expedition leader Song Qi has said the dolphin was spotted on three occasions. However, as seems to happen with the sighting of extinct creature, no photographs were taken, drawing doubts on the credibility of the evidence.
Speaking with Laboratory Roots, Song Qi explains: “I saw most of the body, and the second time around I saw its mouth and head. No other creature could jump out of the Yangtze like that. All the eyewitnesses – which include fishermen – felt certain that it was a baiji.”
Despite the lack of hard evidence, the Chinese government have sent a team in armed with sonar equipment to see if any sounds made by any dolphins that might be present in the vast depths of the murky river can be detected.
The chances of finding a baiji dolphin ten years after the last recorded incident are remote. The publicity surrounding the reported event has led some to speculate that report is an attempt to detract criticism from the environmentally destructive events that led to the loss of the dolphins in the first place.
