Reportedly a very rare river dolphin

The only freshwater dolphin that exists in the Yangtze River, China is now " most likely to be extinct, " a group of scientists concluded after finding no trace of them in the past six weeks. .

The team said that this dolphin dolphin was extinct mainly due to human bluff. This may be the first extinction of a large vertebrate in the last 50 years. The Red List of the International Conservation Organization now classifies them as " extremely endangered ".

Sam Turvey, from the London Zoological Association, co-authored the study, described the finding as a "shocking tragedy".

"The Yangtze River dolphin is an unusual animal that separated from the family tree more than 20 million years ago," Turvey explained. "This extinction status represents the disappearance of an evolutionary tree branch and emphasizes that we have not fulfilled our responsibility as a planet protector," he said.

The Yangtze River dolphin (scientific name is Lipotes vexillifer ) is the only remaining member of the Lipotidae family - a family of ancient animals considered to be separate from other animals, including whales, dolphin dolphins and dolphin, about 40 to 20 million years ago. The animal is white, living in fresh water with a long, narrow beak and low dorsal fin, the population settling into flocks of 3 to 4 heads.

Lipotes vexillifer - Oceanic dolphin dolphin (Photo: gb.cri.cn)

T. An