Yangtze River dolphin 'functionally extinct'

Beijing: An international expedition to search for a rare Chinese river dolphin has ended without a single sighting, and researchers said yesterday that the aquatic mammal is facing imminent extinction.

A few of the white Yangtze River dolphins, known as baiji, may still exist in the massive waterway that cuts through eastern China, but their numbers are insufficient to stave off extinction, said August Pfluger, the Swiss co-leader of the expedition.

"We have to accept the fact that the Baiji is functionally extinct. We lost the race," Pfluger said in a statement . "It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the entire world. We are all incredibly sad." The baiji, shy and nearly blind, is one of the world's oldest dolphin species, dating back some 20 million years.

For nearly six weeks, Pfluger's team of 30 scientists scoured a heavily trafficked 1,700km stretch of the Yangtze.

Around 400 baiji were believed to be living in the Yangtze in the 1980s. The last full-fledged search, in 1997, yielded 13 confirmed sightings, and a fisherman claimed to have seen a baiji in 2004.