Comments on: So long, and thanks for all the handbags

So long, and thanks for all the handbags

asok — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:09:52 -0800

Death of a goddess Another first for China? The yangtze dolphin may be the first cetacean to be made extinct by man. Mentioned by Douglas Adams and Mark Cawardine in 'Last Chance to See' in 1989 when there were still sightings, the mammal may now be extinct. Two weeks into an international expedition to locate the last dolphins there have been no sightings. Fresh water porpoises seem to be incompatible with modern China's economic boom and accompanying environmental destruction. Attempts at conservation seem to be coming a bit late for this 20 million year old species.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:59:32 -0800

Fresh water porpoises seem to be incompatible with modern China's economic boom Fresh water itself is becoming hard to find in China:

Water from a reservoir that serves as Beijing's fourth-biggest source of drinking water is unfit even for irrigation, state media reported on Tuesday, underlining the gravity of China's water pollution problem. [...] The official China Daily last week cited an unnamed official as saying that two-thirds of Chinese cities face water shortages, in part because large amounts of untreated waste water are pumped directly into lakes and rivers.

By: hermitosis

hermitosis — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:20:15 -0800

. I hope they find at least ~~one~~ two. I really loved Adams' book, and the part about these dolphins moved me the most. In the book, Adams' party perform underwater recordings to try to sense what life must be like for a creature that depends on echolocation to navigate. Their description of the steady, grinding, overpowering noise that is conducted easily through the waters of the Yangtze was very depressing.

By: agregoli

agregoli — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:56:18 -0800

I agree, hermitosis. Adam's was a devoted conservationist. This is so sad. I hate hearing about the passing of any species.

By: tadellin

tadellin — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:57:37 -0800

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:21:39 -0800

Dear god, that's sad.

By: Bravocharlie

Bravocharlie — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:31:06 -0800

Wtf, does this mean no more dolphin in my canned tuna?

By: sfts2

sfts2 — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:42:15 -0800

So long, thanks for the fish. Redux.

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:46:53 -0800

> Fresh water itself is becoming hard to find in China: As a citizen of a country with a relative abundance of fresh water, news like this makes me exceedingly nervous. > The yangtze dolphin may be the first cetacean to be made extinct by man As a citizen of Earth, news like this makes me exceedingly sad.

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:04:38 -0800

The last time I had Mu Shu Dolphin it tasted like silt and benzene anyways. Thanks for everything Fripper. We'll miss you.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:28:52 -0800

Sad but excellent post. Thank you, asok.

By: algreer

algreer — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:29:52 -0800

I love the smell of progress in the morning.

By: j-urb

j-urb — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:34:43 -0800

dont blame the chinese, humans has been doing this sort of thing for someitme now. . .

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:35:52 -0800

Maybe word is starting to get around.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 10:36:17 -0800

Sorry, Bravocharlie.

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:03:46 -0800

See this related MeFi Project.

By: of strange foe

of strange foe — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:18:13 -0800

By: Sparx

Sparx — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:13:57 -0800

Meh. Dolphins die. Dry your eyes, Princess, and have a can of harden up. /denial

By: algreer

algreer — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:33:51 -0800

Our planet is going through the biggest extinction crisis since life evolved. Bigger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous. Check out the IUCN Red List. (wp) Percent of species in major groups threatened with extinction: 23% Vertebrates 53% Invertebrates 70% Plants 40% Lichens/Fungi A very good elucidation of how far up the creek we are is E. O. Wilson's The Diversity of Life (Amazon)

By: asok

asok — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:09:26 -0800

Sorry, I didn't see that project link before K A C or I would have included it. The principal link is to baiji.org. There is a recording of Adams reading the whole of Last Chance to See. Thanks for the excellent links, pracowity. We are very busy sawing off the branch we are sitting on, like some cartoon idiot, so we don't have time to look at your stats algreer.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:35:24 -0800

By: Jess the Mess

Jess the Mess — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:01:24 -0800

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:39:54 -0800

By: afu

afu — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:56:59 -0800

I'm on the expedition right now; We are about 3/4 done with the trip, having just arrived in Shanghai and we have not seen any Baiji yet, so everybody is a little depressed. There is some hope that we will see them on the last leg of the trip back up the river because the weather has been very bad the last two weeks and that was in areas that in the past were Baiji "hotspots." So there is some chance that we may have missed a few animals. However the future for the Baji looks very dire. The commercial use of the Yangtze is astounding in it's scale. We counted over 1000 boats involved in sand dredging in Poyang lake alone, and after we passed Nanjing the banks of the river are one continuous industrial water front. And this isn't getting into all the illegal fishing practices we have observed, (rolling hooks, electro fishing, "concussion" fishing). If it keeps going at this rate the whole river will be dead in a couple decades. Just one point, the link to "freshwater porpoises" is a bit misleading. River dolphins are not porpoises, which are a separate cetacean family, (River Dolphins themselves are not true dolphins). In fact there is a porpoise living in the Yangtze, The Finless Porpoise, it is the only freshwater porpoise in the world. It is doing much better than the Baiji, with a population probably around 1000, but this population has been in deep decline in recent years and people are now talking about how the Finless Porpoise could become the second Baiji.

By: photoslob

photoslob — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:35:16 -0800

In May of 2005 while traveling up the Yangtzee I was actually told I could purchase river dolphin to eat if I really wanted it. As a Floridian that regularly sees dolphins while driving over the bay in Tampa my first reaction was to punch the person offering. That sort of sums up my experience traveling in the interior of China. Rednecks aren't unique to just the back waters of the US of A.

By: specialk420

specialk420 — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:51:58 -0800

Nice race we are a part of ... Let's face it - they had it right in the matrix. humans (at least in our current primitive state) are a terminal cancer for the planet earth and all its other species as we know it .... I mean.... it's pretty depressing but lets face it.

By: asok

asok — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 02:48:22 -0800

Thanks afu.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 07:38:16 -0800

If it keeps going at this rate the whole river will be dead in a couple decades. Go, free marketeers!

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 09:05:36 -0800

afu writes "I'm on the expedition right now; " I love Metafilter!

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 12:54:38 -0800

Update.