Wiktionary
n. A freshwater dolphin ((taxlink Lipotes vexillifer species noshow=1)), only found in the Yangtze River. Declared functionally extinct in 2006.
Wikipedia
Baiji may refer to:
- Baiji, the Yangtze River dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer)
- Baiji, Iraq, a city
- Baiji District, Iraq
- Baiji Township, Xiuning County , Anhui, China
- Baiji Township, Nanning , in Yongning District, Nanning, Guangxi, China
- An ancient kingdom in the southern Korean peninsula, called Baekje in Korean
The baiji (, Lipotes vexillifer, Lipotes meaning "left behind", vexillifer "flag bearer") is a functionally extinct species of freshwater dolphin formerly found only in the Yangtze River in China. Nicknamed "Goddess of the Yangtze" in China, the dolphin is also called Chinese river dolphin, Yangtze River dolphin, whitefin dolphin and Yangtze dolphin. It was regarded as the goddess of protection by local fishermen and boatmen in China (Zhou, 1991). It is not to be confused with the Chinese white dolphin or the finless porpoise.
The baiji population declined drastically in decades as China industrialized and made heavy use of the river for fishing, transportation, and hydroelectricity. It has been credibly claimed, after surveys in the Yangtze River during the 1980s, that baiji could be the first dolphin species in history that humans have driven to extinction. A Conservation Action Plan for Cetaceans of the Yangtze River was approved by the Chinese Government in 2001. Efforts were made to conserve the species, but a late 2006 expedition failed to find any baiji in the river. Organizers declared the baiji functionally extinct. The baiji represents the first documented global extinction of a "megafaunal" vertebrate for over 50 years since the demise of the Japanese sea lion and the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s. It also signified the disappearance of an entire mammal family of river dolphins (Lipotidae). The baiji's extinction would be the first recorded extinction of a well-studied cetacean species (it is unclear if some previously extinct varieties were species or subspecies) to be directly attributable to human influence.
Swiss economist and CEO of the baiji.org Foundation, August Pfluger funded the expedition, in which an international team, taken in part from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Fisheries Research Agency in Japan, searched for six weeks for signs of the dolphin. The search took place almost a decade after the last exploration in 1997, which turned up only 13 of the cetaceans.
In August 2007, a Chinese man reportedly videotaped a large white animal swimming in the Yangtze. Although it was tentatively confirmed that the animal on the video is probably a baiji, the presence of only one or a few animals, particularly of advanced age, is not enough to save a functionally extinct species from true extinction. The last known living baiji was Qiqi , who died in 2002. The World Wildlife Fund is calling for the preservation of any possible baiji habitat, in case the species is located and can be revived.
A related species from the Miocene is Parapontoporia.
Usage examples of "baiji".
That's where there are people working on saving the baiji, and that's the main place we're headed for.
The water is so muddy now that visibility is not much more than a few centimetres, and as a result the baiji's eyes have atrophied through disuse.
Either way, the Yangtze has become very much more muddy during the history of the baiji species, mostly because of human activity.
With a sigh he opened a bottle of baiji beer, and took a rather complicated swig at it, so as not to take his eyes off the water.
They can see much better than the baiji, which suggests that they're probably relative newcomers.
He explained simply and concisely who we were, missing out the science fiction comedy bit, outlined the nature of our project, said why we were interested in the baiji, and asked them an intelligent opening question about the reserve they were building.
The baiji, they explained, is very important to them and it is their duty to protect it.
Local businesses had put money into the project, in return for which they were licensed to use the baiji.
In the summers, even the cool summers they had been having lately, the extensive inshore shallows of the sea grew as warm as blood, and dolphins—adapted from Terran river dolphins like the baiji from China, or the boto from the Amazon, or the susu from the Ganges, or the bhulan from the Indus—sported just off the beach.
In the summers, even the cool summers they had been having lately, the extensive inshore shallows of the sea grew as warm as blood, and dolphins - adapted from Terran river dolphins like the baiji from China, or the boto from the Amazon, or the susu from the Ganges, or the bhulan from the Indus - sported just off the beach.