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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Category: Mammals
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
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
Adams, from Last Chance to See:
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
Why am I not surprised that this took place in China... :-\
Posted by: Not My Second Opinion | August 9, 2007 6:10 AM
A longer extract from Adams' great book is here.
Posted by: John Lynch | August 9, 2007 2:02 PM