China’s White Dolphin extinct

China’s white dolphin called extinct after 20 million years. That’s the recent news in the animal world as the rare White Dolphin was announced as being extinct.

An expedition searching for a rare Yangtze River dolphin ended Wednesday without a single sighting and with the team’s leader saying one of the world’s oldest species was effectively extinct.

The white dolphin known as baiji, shy and nearly blind, dates back some 20 million years. Its disappearance is believed to be the first time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction.

Not at all positive of a feeling knowing that within lifetime, we’ve managed to witness the extinction of an entire animal species. Notable facts from the article:

• Baiji, or white dolphin, survived 20 million years as species
• 30 scientists searched 1,000 miles of Yangtze River for six weeks
• Last full search in 1997 had 13 sightings
• Yangtze finless porpoise also threatened; fewer than 400 left