综合一区欧美国产,99国产麻豆免费精品,九九精品黄色录像,亚洲激情青青草,久久亚洲熟妇熟,中文字幕av在线播放,国产一区二区卡,九九久久国产精品,久久精品视频免费

中文USEUROPEAFRICAASIA

Reviving the 'river pig'

By Deng Zhangyu ( China Daily ) Updated: 2013-12-21 23:41:41

Reviving the 'river pig'

A family of porpoises at the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology in 2006. The mother (right) was pregnant when this photo was taken, but she and her calf, Lele, died the following year. The mother's mate is beside her. Gao Baoyan / for China Daily

But the pregnancy of E'e is unique in that, while she isn't captive, her mate Tiantian was introduced by human intervention.

While the Tian'ezhou oxbow is intended as a haven from shipping, overfishing, pollution and dredging, human activities still disrupt the porpoises' habitats.

Farmers in surrounding villages joined together in 2011 to pump water from the reserve to irrigate their rice paddies when drought lowered the river.

"It's a Catch-22," says Cheng Xianhong, who has worked as a reserve administrator since 2008.

"Farmers need water for their fields. Porpoises need water to live."

Conflict erupted between farmers and the reserve. Finally, the local government pumped water into the oxbow from the Yangtze's main watercourse.

Still, despite water diversions and land grabs, the reserve remains a far better sanctuary than the polluted water elsewhere.

Gao Baoyan, a conservationist who has devoted herself to protecting porpoises for more than 10 years, says most of the dead specimens found in the Yangtze River starved.

Several jiangtun have quickly expired after becoming stranded on the shoals in recent years.

"The autopsies showed their stomachs were empty," Gao says.

Many porpoises' fins are infected by bacterial pollution, rendering them deformed lumps, Gao adds.

She agrees new reserves offer the only hope.

Wang Ding, the ecologist, is working with colleagues at the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology to find other suitable reserve locations in Hubei.

Wang Ding believes the Yangtze's economic importance makes it too difficult to entirely transform.

About 40 percent of China's GDP comes from cities along the river that also contain about 40 percent of the country's population.

"If measures aren't taken quickly, the river porpoise will share the fate of its cousin, the baiqi (white-flag) dolphin," Wang Ding says.

The last known baiqi died in Hubei's provincial capital Wuhan in 2002. The species is functionally extinct. That means individuals may exist but not enough to sustain the species.

The finless porpoise is like the baiqi dolphin in that it's atop the Yangtze's food chain. That makes it an environmental barometer.

"If the finless porpoises disappear, that signals the collapse of the river's ecosystem," Wang Ding says.

"And that's a warning bell for humankind."

Liu Kun contributed to this story.

Most Popular
Special
...
...
白山市| 孝昌县| 抚远县| 合江县| 汉川市| 阜城县| 泸水县| 顺平县| 金乡县| 安新县| 海城市| 天台县| 鱼台县| 恩平市| 南漳县| 长沙县| 普兰县| 大厂| 泾阳县| 贵州省| 日喀则市| 和平县| 宝应县| 华亭县| 上思县| 砚山县| 新津县| 凉山| 佛山市| 沿河| 长治县| 济宁市| 菏泽市| 大埔县| 白玉县| 那坡县| 阿尔山市| 松溪县| 临猗县| 申扎县| 宿州市|