And the first cetacean to disappear as a result of human activity…

Goes to the Yangtze river dolphin

After a fruitless search lasting six weeks, scientists failed to find a single Yangtze river dolphin, also known as the Baiji, in its natural habitat in China. They will now propose that the dolphin be formally reclassified this autumn as “possibly extinct” and say there is no longer any hope of resurrecting the species using a captive breeding programme.

Published in Biology Letters