The baiji is probably the most threatened marine mammal in the world; with some saying that it is ‘functionally extinct’.
In 2006 a survey of its habitat, the Yangtze River, was conducted – though no baiji were found. Its loss would be the first extinction of mega fauna for over 50 years. The baiji is the only living species in the genus Lipotes, and even the only member of the family Lipotidae. It has been declared a national treasure of the highest order, but the Yangtze River is today one of the world’s busiest and most degraded waterways. Little active work is being done to protect and conserve the rapidly declining population. There has been no physical or photographic evidence for the species existence since 2000, though there have been scattered undocumented sightings through the years, most recently in October 2016.
Order: Cetartiodactyla
Family: Iniidae
Population: Unknown
Trend:unknown
Size: 1.4-2.5 m
Weight: 42-125kg
EDGE Score
EDGE Score: 9.77 (?)
ED Score: 10.72 (?)
GE / IUCN Red List(?)
NENot EvaluatedDDData DeficientLCLeast ConcernNTNear ThreatenedVUVulnerableENEndangeredCRCritically EndangeredEWExtinct in the WildEXExtinct
Distribution
Baiji are endemic to the Yangtze Basin in eastern China. They have only been recorded from a 1700km stretch of the middle and lower Yangtze River between Yichang and Shanghai, this historical distribution has always been downstream of the site of the Three Gorges Dam project.
Habitat and Ecology
Baiji are typically found in confluences, around sandbars with large eddies, where the fish they feed on are more abundant. Baiji are social, with a group size of around four or five animals. Their migratory patterns are thought to be linked to seasonal changes in water level, with individuals travelling up to several hundred kilometres upstream and downstream.
This wordcloud illustrates the threats facing this species. The size of each word indicates the extent of a species range that is affected by that threat (larger size means a greater area is affected). The colour of the word indicates how much that threat impacts the species (darker shades of red mean the threat is more severe).
The EDGE score is used to prioritise EDGE species for conservation attention. Within a group of species, higher values mean that the species is a higher priority. The score is calculated by combining the ED and GE scores given below. The black line on the EDGE bar shows the mean EDGE score for all species in this taxonomic group, so you can see how high this species’ EDGE score is compared to the rest of the group.
ED is the Evolutionary Distinctiveness of this species, measured in millions of years. This number represents the unique evolutionary history surviving in this species. The black line on the ED bar shows the median ED score for all species in this taxonomic group, so you can see how high this species’ ED score is within compared to the rest of the group.
The Global Endangerment (GE) or IUCN Red List category, describes how close this species is to becoming extinct. Species that are Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered are considered to be at significant risk of extinction.