The Yangtze river dolphin is declared functionally extinct

The baiji, a pale freshwater dolphin with a long beak that lived in the Yangtze River of China for some 20 million years, was called the 'goddess of the Yangtze'. Numbers fell from about 400 in 1980 to a handful as boat traffic, fishing nets that entangled it, pollution and dams took their toll. In November and December 2006 a six-week expedition with two ships and international scientists searched the whole river and found no animals. Its loss was announced in December 2006, and it was the first dolphin species driven to extinction by humans. The last captive animal, Qi Qi, had died in 2002.

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