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John M. Lynch is an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett the Honors College at Arizona State University. He's also affiliated with ASU's Center for Biology & Society. When he's not an historian of anti-evolutionism, he's an evolutionary morphologist. Much to his surprise, in 2007 he was named the Arizona Professor of the Year. No doubt his students were surprised as well.

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The Yangtze River dolphin is officially no more

Posted on: August 8, 2007 1:56 AM, by John Lynch

Back last December I reported that the Yangtze River dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer) was "effectively extinct". Now I must report that the species has been declared officially extinct, the first official extinction of a large vertebrate for more than 50 years.

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Comments

1

This is terrible!

I first heard of the Yangtze River dolphin in Douglas Adams' appropriately named Last Chance to See. That book inspired me to donate to the World Wildlife Fund. (Unfortunately, I can't afford to donate to the more specific charities.)

Posted by: John Marley | August 8, 2007 11:41 AM

2

Adams, from Last Chance to See:

As I watched the wind ruffling over the bilious surface of the Yangtze, I realised with the vividness of shock that somewhere beneath or around me there were intelligent animals whose perceptive universe we could scarcely begin to imagine, living in a seething, poisoned, deafening world, and that their lives were probably passed in continual bewilderment, hunger, pain, and fear.

I sure hope we're able to nurture in our great-grandchildren a healthy appreciation of vermin species; at this rate that's all they'll have left.

Posted by: Warren | August 8, 2007 1:15 PM

3

Why am I not surprised that this took place in China... :-\

Posted by: Not My Second Opinion | August 9, 2007 6:10 AM

4

A longer extract from Adams' great book is here.

Posted by: John Lynch | August 9, 2007 2:02 PM

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