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Good News, Bad News

By jjacquet on August 30, 2007.

The good news: The white-beaked, nearly blind bajii dolphin was spotted in the Yangtze river relieving fears that it had gone extinct. The New York Times has more on the sighting but the elements of shifting baselines are here: In the late 1970s, scientists believed several hundred baiji were still alive, but by 1997 a survey listed just 13 sightings...China has set up a reserve in a lake in Hubei Province but has found no baiji to put in it.

The bad news: Mexican police forces just seized a group of six men with more than 57,000 turtle eggs, representing around 570 endangered olive ridley turtles. The eggs are believed to have aphrodisiac powers and are sold illegally at markets in Oaxaca's sweltering coastal plains. It's too late for those 57,000 unborn turtles, but the Imperial Beach-based Wildcoast launched the My Man Doesn't Need to Eat Sea Turtle Eggs campaign, which tries to reduce the demand for eggs with sexy advertising.

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Losing Track

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There is a very good chapter on the Chinese river dolphins in Douglas Adams' "Last Chance to See." He is a lot more famous for his science fiction, but I think this non-fiction book about engangered species may be his best work.