The Extinction Watershed

August 8, 2007 became a watershed because of the deplorable news of the probable extinction of the legendary 'Goddess of the Yangtze', the Baiji or 'Yangtze Dolphin'. The species, which simply could not endure the colossal, anthropogenic degradation of its habitat in the Yangtze waters of eastern China, was a remarkable mammal that separated from all other species over 20 million years ago.

Its survival strategy, of living in the Yangtze estuary and not the ocean, survived all but mankind; with no chance of escape, the Baiji was unrelentingly exposed to the manifold threats of human industrialization.

Now it is gone…forever.

The Baiji's extinction marks the loss of an entire branch of the evolutionary tree of life. Its termination is a siren call that we have continue to fail to understand the extent of our responsibility towards all other species and ecosystems in our role as stewards of Earth.

The Baiji is the "world's first cetacean - the order of whales, dolphins and porpoises - to be made extinct by man."

The Baiji's demise represents the first extinction of a large vertebrate since overhunting claimed the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s.[i],[ii]

I deem the loss of the Baiji a watershed event but our self-indulgent, ignorant priorities were made evident in that day's news coverage, both in China and around the world, where the celebrations - one year ahead of the begin of the Beijing Olympics - took centre stage: How many more species must follow before we awaken from the nightmare that we have created?

The eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of this millennium will not be a day of fortune and happiness but one of sorrow and despair that marks a tragic anniversary. I for one will be boycotting the Beijing Olympics next year.

My plea to you is simple:

It is now time that we all, not just the biodiversity science community, not just a few die hard environmentalists, get organised to force governments to halt the catastrophic loss of Earth's wondrous species.
Do whatever you can: Organise, petition, demand change!

[i] Roger Highfield, Yangtzse River dolphin 'now extinct', online at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/08/08/eadolph108.xml and China's Rare River Dolphin Now Extinct, Experts Announce, online at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061214-dolphin-extinct.html

[ii] See also, http://www.baiji.org/start.html

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