New Scientist Magazine: "So long and thanks for all the fish" by Mark Carwardine

Check out issue 2621 (12/07/2007) of New Scientist Magazine, on newstands shortly (if not already). It features an update on the Baiji Dolphin from Mark Carwardine. The online version (subscription required) is available at The Baiji: So long and thanks for all the fish.

THE FIRST time I went in search of the Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji, was in 1988 with Douglas Adams, author of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as part of a year spent travelling the world in search of endangered species for a book and radio series called Last Chance to See. We explored a small part of the Yangtze, which runs for 6380 kilometres through the heart of China.

We were overwhelmed by the dolphin's phenomenally high profile in China. We drank Baiji beer and Baiji cola, stayed in the Baiji Hotel and used Lipotes vexillifer toilet paper. We even came across Baiji weighing scales and Baiji fertiliser. It was the aquatic equivalent of the giant panda.

Unfortunately, though, we failed to see a single dolphin in the wild. We weren't surprised - the Yangtze river is vast and the dolphins were notoriously hard to see, surfacing ...

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