Baiji by Sonya Hallett

 

Today we have a painting of the baiji river dolphin by Sonya Hallett. The baiji was found in the Yangtze River. It was a beautiful creature, and fascinated the ancient Chinese who according to legend believed it to be the spirit of a drowned princess. You may be noticing all the past tense I’m using. That is because the baiji is probably extinct. For years people were calling for the baiji to be protected and for breeding programs to be set up. But those cries were ignored and as the Yangtze grew more congested with traffic and pollution the population of baiji grew smaller and smaller. The most recent population survey in 2009 was unable to find a single live specimen, and barring some miracle this means that the baiji is lost forever.