Research questions:
1.What cause species to exctinct?
2.How does the exctinction impact our enviroment?
3.What can we learn from the increasing number of extinction for the past few hundred years?
Summary:
The Yangtze River dolphin, also known as the Baiji (which in Chinese means the “white fin”). The Chinese fishermen praise the Baiji as the Goddess of Yangtze. The Baiji has lived in the Yangtze river for millions of years; the word “Baiji” can be found in Chinese dictionaries since 200 BC. The Baiji is very rare specie; it is the only remain member of the Lipotide, an ancient mammal family that is understood to have separated from other marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and porpoises. In the late 1970, Chinese scientists estimated there were about 400 Baiji in the Yangtze River and its side channel. Twenty years later they estimated again but sadly there were only as few as 12 dolphins left in the river. In 2007 a multinational team searched for the Baiji and they failed to find any dolphins left in the entire river. At the end of the year the Baiji was declared “functionally Extinct”. The primary cause of the extinction is unsustainable by-catching in local fisheries, used by rolling hooks, nets and electro-fishing. And other main factors are: unregulated fishing decreasing the food amount for the Baiji; fishermen accidentally catching the dolphins in their gear, which most of the time have drowned the Baiji; boat collision, and the construction of dams (especially the three gorges Dam) and hydroelectricity along the river. All these factors can belong to the “lack of intervention”. Researchers say it would be the first whale or dolphin, they are known as cetaceans, to specifically be wiped out by human activity. There were some actions taken to save the Baiji in early and recent days, a conservation strategy was suggested in 1986, and the Chinese government approved to remove those remained dolphins to the conservation, at that time the Baiji was already China’s national treasure. And like just mentioned, in 2007 a team of scientist tried to remove as many Baiji from Yangtze to the nearby lake or conservation, where were less polluted than the river. Unfortunately all those actions had failed perhaps it was a little “too late”. “It is very sad and distressing for us to watch them disappear from the Earth right before our own eyes,” Henry Genthe, a marine biologist said.
Baiji. Image: Stephen Leatherwood/ZSL
↑↓ Qiqi, the only captive Yangtze River dolphin, which has died not long ago, sending its 25 lonely years in the tank.
external image baiji.jpg
Response From Abe:
I liked the summary very much. I was really shocked that the dolphin is extincted in the Yangtze river. I heard about the Yangtze river dolphin in Korea that they are very beautiful and marvelous. The summary also has strong evidence. The summary is very informative and also there is a image about the dolphin so it was easy to interpret what you wanted to say. I liked the summary about the dolphin especially the Yangtze river dolphin that is really related to us. It's a really good information that we can use in class to claim that the humanity is making animals extinct. You have done a great job!!!
Many of you might ask that why should we help if the Baiji is gone forever, there is nothing we can do.
Actually there is.
A good news is that just at the end of last year after the multinational team had searched for the entire river and had found nothing, a Chinese business man had spotted a "large, white and weird creature" from the river bank, and caught it jumping out of water six times on his digital camera. The footage was later proved to be a Baiji by the local scientists. "It wouldn't be the first time an animal written off as extinct has turned out to be alive and kicking. In last few years alone, scientists have rediscovered snails, fish, and even some turtles thst were supposed to have checked out for good." Melssa Block, a NPR News host said. These evidences arouse hope of the existence of the Baiji. Mr. Michael Bean (Chair of the Wildlife Program, Environment Defense says "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. So that is to say just becuase we haven't found something does not mean it's not there." Bean is a lawyer who specializes in endangered species, "It is very hard to prove that something is gone forever, when experts are too quickly to declare a species extinct, it can create all kinds of problems. Governments can stop protecting habitats and funding for a research can disappear. That is why conservations are loath to give up only particular plant or animal."
There might be a chance for the Baiji, and the dolphins need our helps.
Donation: since the region where the Baiji lives has a distance from Shanghai the most easy thing we can do is to donate money to support the conservation and other programs of protections.
Place to donate: EDGE (Evolutionary distinct and globally endangered) and ICUN Red List, these requires your name, e-mail, country and address. And you can chose the amount of money you wish to donate for sure. In addition, if you decide to donate to ICUN you can either help support Red List assessment work or specialist group field work.
It is great that if you help to save some other endangered species such as the Gulf of Clifornia porpoise, the next most endangered cetacen, which is jsut about to die out in the Sea of Cortze. Also you can help the dolphins which live in the ocean, again, you might think that there are still lots of ocean dolphins so do not worry for them to much, well there is exactly what people thought about the Baiji in the beginning.
What you can help for the dolphins: Draw attention to pilght of dolphins. Tell your friends and family about the situation. And if you like to eat fish, make sure it was caught in a 'dolphin friendly' way. Bear in mind that some dolphin friendly fishing methods instead endanger seabirds and marine reptiles.
After all, please bear in mind, "If the Baiji can no longer survive in the Yangtze, Genthe asks, how much longer will the river be able to sustain mankind?" said Henry Genthe, a marine biologist.
Analysis:
Evaluating our presentation--
In the beginning I decided to make a photosatory, which I had searched effective pictures about my topic "The Investigation of the Yangtze River Dolphins". Unfortunately, I had encountered some difficulties to make one, just at that time Alberto suggested, "How about we two make a powerpoint and just enlarge every image, so its like a photostory with people actually talking in front of the whole class." Then I accepted his idea and we worked together as a team trying to figure out a best way to present it; we found lots of fantastic and sad images about the beautiful river dolphins and the polluted Yangtze river. This way of presenting fit the needs because we all agree that it was better and easier to understand an issue by looking at the visual evidences such as vedio and pictures, therefore we avoid all the boring and long speeches in order to get the audience attentions. We tried to make the audience feel guilty and at the same time encouraged them to save endangered species. Overall, I was really proud of our presentation since those interesting and amazing pictures had made everyone enjoyed all the way to the end. Afterall I think th presentation was effective because, as I said the photostory is much more interesting and exciting to watch than listening to a 5-minute long speech. In addition I could see everyone's seriouse faces which told me that they were really concerned for the dolphins. At the end lots of questions had been asked and I was very happy to answer all of them as I wanted to let more people know about these endangered species and all the problems they are facing nowadays.
↑Another picture of Qiqi.
Bibliography: Bauerlein, Monika, and Clara Jeffery. "Editors' note.(China, baiji dolphin extinct, environmental protection in the United States)(Editorial)." Mother Jones 32.3 (May-June 2007): 4(1). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008 <>. Catherine Armitage. "Dolphins dying out." Australian, The (n.d.). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 11 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=200207181007670617&site=ehost-live>. Perry, Phyllis J. Freshwater giants : hippopotamus, river dolphins, and manatees. New York: F. Watts, 1999. Michael Kahn. "Freshwater dolphin possibly extinct." TorontoStar (Canada) (n.d.). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 11 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=6FP1178587444&site=ehost-live>. Mooney, Paul. "ASIA / Demise of a Fabled River Runner." San Francisco Chronicle (March 23, 1998): A8. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008
<>. "River dolphins. ."Environmental Encyclopedia. Marci Bortman, Peter Brimblecombe, and Mary Ann Cunningham. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>. Sample, Ian. "Yangtze river dolphin extinct." Irish Times (08 Aug. 2007). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 11 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=9FY2490256030&site=ehost-live>. "Sometimes, There's Life After Extinction.(21:00-22:00 PM)(white river dolphin in Yangtze River)(Broadcast transcript)(Audio file)." All Things Considered (Sept 21, 2007): NA. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008 <>. "Yangtze River Dolphin Likely to Be Extinct.(16:00-17:00 PM)(Broadcast transcript)(Audio file)." Day To Day (August 8, 2007): NA. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008 <>. "Yangtze river dolphin is 'probably extinct'." New Scientist 195.2616 (11 Aug. 2007): 5. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 11 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=26299212&site=ehost-live>.
1.What cause species to exctinct?
2.How does the exctinction impact our enviroment?
3.What can we learn from the increasing number of extinction for the past few hundred years?
Summary:
The Yangtze River dolphin, also known as the Baiji (which in Chinese means the “white fin”). The Chinese fishermen praise the Baiji as the Goddess of Yangtze. The Baiji has lived in the Yangtze river for millions of years; the word “Baiji” can be found in Chinese dictionaries since 200 BC. The Baiji is very rare specie; it is the only remain member of the Lipotide, an ancient mammal family that is understood to have separated from other marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and porpoises. In the late 1970, Chinese scientists estimated there were about 400 Baiji in the Yangtze River and its side channel. Twenty years later they estimated again but sadly there were only as few as 12 dolphins left in the river. In 2007 a multinational team searched for the Baiji and they failed to find any dolphins left in the entire river. At the end of the year the Baiji was declared “functionally Extinct”. The primary cause of the extinction is unsustainable by-catching in local fisheries, used by rolling hooks, nets and electro-fishing. And other main factors are: unregulated fishing decreasing the food amount for the Baiji; fishermen accidentally catching the dolphins in their gear, which most of the time have drowned the Baiji; boat collision, and the construction of dams (especially the three gorges Dam) and hydroelectricity along the river. All these factors can belong to the “lack of intervention”. Researchers say it would be the first whale or dolphin, they are known as cetaceans, to specifically be wiped out by human activity. There were some actions taken to save the Baiji in early and recent days, a conservation strategy was suggested in 1986, and the Chinese government approved to remove those remained dolphins to the conservation, at that time the Baiji was already China’s national treasure. And like just mentioned, in 2007 a team of scientist tried to remove as many Baiji from Yangtze to the nearby lake or conservation, where were less polluted than the river. Unfortunately all those actions had failed perhaps it was a little “too late”. “It is very sad and distressing for us to watch them disappear from the Earth right before our own eyes,” Henry Genthe, a marine biologist said.
↑↓ Qiqi, the only captive Yangtze River dolphin, which has died not long ago, sending its 25 lonely years in the tank.
Response From Abe:
I liked the summary very much. I was really shocked that the dolphin is extincted in the Yangtze river. I heard about the Yangtze river dolphin in Korea that they are very beautiful and marvelous. The summary also has strong evidence. The summary is very informative and also there is a image about the dolphin so it was easy to interpret what you wanted to say. I liked the summary about the dolphin especially the Yangtze river dolphin that is really related to us. It's a really good information that we can use in class to claim that the humanity is making animals extinct. You have done a great job!!!
Usful and educational links:
Broacasts:
"Yangtze River Dolphin Likely to Be Extinct.(16:00-17:00 PM)(Broadcast transcript)(Audio file)." Day To Day (August 8, 2007) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12590990
"Sometimes, There's Life After Extinction.(21:00-22:00 PM)(white river dolphin in Yangtze River)(Broadcast transcript)(Audio file)." All Things Considered (Sept 21, 2007)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14599250
Vedios:
BBC Sci/Tech News vedio:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6930000/newsid_6936100/6936148.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1
Earth Ocean: Wake of Baiji
http://www.earthocean.tv/series/baiji.html
Action Plan:
Many of you might ask that why should we help if the Baiji is gone forever, there is nothing we can do.
Actually there is.
A good news is that just at the end of last year after the multinational team had searched for the entire river and had found nothing, a Chinese business man had spotted a "large, white and weird creature" from the river bank, and caught it jumping out of water six times on his digital camera. The footage was later proved to be a Baiji by the local scientists. "It wouldn't be the first time an animal written off as extinct has turned out to be alive and kicking. In last few years alone, scientists have rediscovered snails, fish, and even some turtles thst were supposed to have checked out for good." Melssa Block, a NPR News host said. These evidences arouse hope of the existence of the Baiji. Mr. Michael Bean (Chair of the Wildlife Program, Environment Defense says "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. So that is to say just becuase we haven't found something does not mean it's not there." Bean is a lawyer who specializes in endangered species, "It is very hard to prove that something is gone forever, when experts are too quickly to declare a species extinct, it can create all kinds of problems. Governments can stop protecting habitats and funding for a research can disappear. That is why conservations are loath to give up only particular plant or animal."
There might be a chance for the Baiji, and the dolphins need our helps.
- Donation: since the region where the Baiji lives has a distance from Shanghai the most easy thing we can do is to donate money to support the conservation and other programs of protections.
Place to donate: EDGE (Evolutionary distinct and globally endangered) and ICUN Red List, these requires your name, e-mail, country and address. And you can chose the amount of money you wish to donate for sure. In addition, if you decide to donate to ICUN you can either help support Red List assessment work or specialist group field work.- Express your knowledge and thoughts:
Go on Chinadilogue:http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/673-Farewell-to-the-baijiWhere you can share your opinions advocate and discuss about the issues of the Baiji and Yangtze River.
It might be a tiny action for us, but “True education + advocacy are critical pieces.” (Mr.Nordmyer)
- It is great that if you help to save some other endangered species such as the Gulf of Clifornia porpoise, the next most endangered cetacen, which is jsut about to die out in the Sea of Cortze. Also you can help the dolphins which live in the ocean, again, you might think that there are still lots of ocean dolphins so do not worry for them to much, well there is exactly what people thought about the Baiji in the beginning.
What you can help for the dolphins: Draw attention to pilght of dolphins. Tell your friends and family about the situation. And if you like to eat fish, make sure it was caught in a 'dolphin friendly' way. Bear in mind that some dolphin friendly fishing methods instead endanger seabirds and marine reptiles.After all, please bear in mind, "If the Baiji can no longer survive in the Yangtze, Genthe asks, how much longer will the river be able to sustain mankind?" said Henry Genthe, a marine biologist.
Analysis:
Evaluating our presentation--In the beginning I decided to make a photosatory, which I had searched effective pictures about my topic "The Investigation of the Yangtze River Dolphins". Unfortunately, I had encountered some difficulties to make one, just at that time Alberto suggested, "How about we two make a powerpoint and just enlarge every image, so its like a photostory with people actually talking in front of the whole class." Then I accepted his idea and we worked together as a team trying to figure out a best way to present it; we found lots of fantastic and sad images about the beautiful river dolphins and the polluted Yangtze river. This way of presenting fit the needs because we all agree that it was better and easier to understand an issue by looking at the visual evidences such as vedio and pictures, therefore we avoid all the boring and long speeches in order to get the audience attentions. We tried to make the audience feel guilty and at the same time encouraged them to save endangered species. Overall, I was really proud of our presentation since those interesting and amazing pictures had made everyone enjoyed all the way to the end. Afterall I think th presentation was effective because, as I said the photostory is much more interesting and exciting to watch than listening to a 5-minute long speech. In addition I could see everyone's seriouse faces which told me that they were really concerned for the dolphins. At the end lots of questions had been asked and I was very happy to answer all of them as I wanted to let more people know about these endangered species and all the problems they are facing nowadays.
↑Another picture of Qiqi.
Bibliography:
Bauerlein, Monika, and Clara Jeffery. "Editors' note.(China, baiji dolphin extinct, environmental protection in the United States)(Editorial)." Mother Jones 32.3 (May-June 2007): 4(1). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008
<>.
Catherine Armitage. "Dolphins dying out." Australian, The (n.d.). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 11 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=200207181007670617&site=ehost-live>.
Perry, Phyllis J. Freshwater giants : hippopotamus, river dolphins, and manatees. New York: F. Watts, 1999.
Michael Kahn. "Freshwater dolphin possibly extinct." Toronto Star (Canada) (n.d.). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 11 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=6FP1178587444&site=ehost-live>.
Mooney, Paul. "ASIA / Demise of a Fabled River Runner." San Francisco Chronicle (March 23, 1998): A8. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008
<>.
"River dolphins. ."Environmental Encyclopedia. Marci Bortman, Peter Brimblecombe, and Mary Ann Cunningham. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
Sample, Ian. "Yangtze river dolphin extinct." Irish Times (08 Aug. 2007). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 11 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=9FY2490256030&site=ehost-live>.
"Sometimes, There's Life After Extinction.(21:00-22:00 PM)(white river dolphin in Yangtze River)(Broadcast transcript)(Audio file)." All Things Considered (Sept 21, 2007): NA. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008
<>.
"Yangtze River Dolphin Likely to Be Extinct.(16:00-17:00 PM)(Broadcast transcript)(Audio file)." Day To Day (August 8, 2007): NA. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL. 11 May 2008
<>.
"Yangtze river dolphin is 'probably extinct'." New Scientist 195.2616 (11 Aug. 2007): 5. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 11 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=26299212&site=ehost-live>.