China launches survey of endangered porpoises in Yangtze

WUHAN, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists on Sunday launched a survey of endangered finless porpoises in the country's largest river Yangtze, as they worried the freshwater mammal is on the verge of extinction.

Consisting of researchers from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the survey team set off in Wuhan, a central Chinese city along the Yangtze River.

The 40-day survey is the most comprehensive since 2006, when a survey found the population of finless porpoises down to 1,800 and pronounced the white-flag dolphin, a larger mammal native to the river, close to extinction.

There are probably only 1,000 finless porpoises in the Yangtze and two lakes linked to the waterway after continuous drops in the number, said Wang Ding, researcher from the Institute of Hydrobiology under the CAS.

"Finless porpoises may die out within 10 to 15 years, if strong measures are not taken," Wang warned.

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