Twenty million years ago, a dolphin species emerged distinct from all other. It flourished in the Yangtze River for eons, but after extensive surveys in 2007, scientist declared human activity had driven the Yangtze River Dolphin to extinction. This was a blow to the conservation community and represented not only the first large mammal extinction in over 50 years, but the first cetacean to be driven to extinction by human actions, namely pollution, heavy river traffic, overfishing, and incidental killing in fishing nets.
Scientists searched the dolphins entire range for six weeks with the plan of catching any and starting a captive breeding program. They found not one. Scientists and conservationists were crushed.
However, after this formal declaration, a local man named Zeng Yujiang spotted and filmed what looked to be a river dolphin near Tongling. These digital images could very well be the not only the last footage to ever be taken of the large mammal, but actually footage of the very last individual. There are certainly not enough dolphins left to avoid extinction. Maybe there are more out there, and an army of citizens armed with image-making equipment could find them, but for now, we say goodbye to another large mammal driven to extinction by a singular species of ape.
