Yangtze Finless Porpoise
The Yangtze finless porpoise ( Neophocaena phocaenoides) may have a cheeky smile plastered on its face, but its population decline is no laughing matter. Their habitats along the main Yangtze River channel and two interconnected lakes are being contaminated by around half of China’s total sewage discharge every year – a shocking 35.3 billion tonnes of waste. This has affected the porpoise’s habitat as well as its food supply. Their cousins, the Chinese river dolphin, or baiji, which occupied the same waterway, became extinct in 2006 due to these very reasons, and there is no guarantee that the porpoise will not face this same fate. Today, there are only about 500 to 1,800 individuals left, and while they grin and bear their impending doom, conservationists are fighting to keep them alive.