A moment of silence, please
Via Science in the News, the sad news that, for the fourth time since 1500AD, a large vertebrate mammal has been forced into extinction by human action. Say good-bye to the Yangtze river dolphin, or Baiji:
I’m depressed but unsurprised to see no mention of this in the US papers I scan in the morning. What’s one more species, anyway?
There’s picture gallery with the article that includes this picture of the Yangtze pollution:
There’s an excellent article in Wikipedia about the dolphin. Somehow, this picture from that article captured a lot of my emotions. It’s a size comparison of the dolphin with a diver. Or, if you prefer, victim and perp.
Historically, the species had been revered and achieved nearly demi-god status among fishermen who recounted tales of dolphins being reincarnations of drowned princesses. But in Mao’s Great Leap Forward, the overthrowing of idols saw their protection lifted and they were hunted for food and their skin.
Somehow, I doubt that Douglas Adams would have been amused either.
August 9th, 2007 at 8:24 am
I wonder if any of the species mentioned in that article as endangered will survive the decade.
How terribly sad - and how little an individual can do… the extent of intervention necessary is almost unimaginable…