Two Yangtze finless porpoises, which used to live in Songmenshan area of Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province, have successfully arrived at their new home in Hukou County of Jiujiang City, Jiangxi.

And this is the beginning of this year's ex situ conservation of Yangtze finless porpoise program, aiming to provide a better habitat for the finless porpoises while increasing their genetic diversity.

Why do they need to be relocated?

Ex situ conservation is to protect endangered wildlife by removing part of the population from their natural habitats, usually threatened, to a new location. And in situ conservation, vice versa, is to protect the species in their natural habitats.

Endemic to China's Yangtze River, the Yangtze finless porpoise is a critically endangered species. To protect the freshwater cetacean from extinction, China has carried out projects in three main pathways: artificial breeding, in situ conservation and ex situ conservation.

Connecting to the Yangtze River, Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China and one of the main habitats for the finless porpoises. According to last year's investigation, about 490 Yangtze finless porpoises live in the lake, which accounts for nearly half of the total population in the Yangtze River Basin.

Affected by the extreme drought in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in 2022, large number of finless porpoises in Songmenshan area of the Poyang Lake couldn't swim back to the deep-water area at that time. This year's ex situ conservation is also to decrease the potential risks of finless porpoises being stranded and left with no food. A total of eight finless porpoises need to be relocated to the protection areas in central China's Hubei, and east China's Anhui and Jiangxi provinces.

How to relocate the finless porpoises?

During the mission, staff members have to carefully conduct the process to  sure the finless porpoises' safety. But not every captured Yangtze finless porpoise can be sent to a new habitat.

"First, it has to be a subadult, the age should be between two to five years old," said Zhan Shupin, deputy chief of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Jiangxi Province, "considering the adaptability of the finless porpoise, the subadults can well adapt to the new water area. Besides, we have to make sure it's germ plasm and body condition are in good health."

Staff members spent three days and safely captured 21 Yangtze finless porpoises, including fifteen males and six females. Among the females, one is only one year old, and the other five are all pregnant. According to Liu Kai, research member of the Institute of Hydrobiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the more pregnant finless porpoises in Poyang Lake, the larger population growth potential they have.

(Cover: Staff members exam the health of a Yangtze finless porpoise. /CFP)

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