A total of 65 Yangtze River finless porpoises were observed during a survey period from autumn 2023 to summer 2024 in the Nanjing Yangtze Finless Porpoise Provincial Nature Reserve, Nanjing municipal forestry and parks bureau in east China's Jiangsu Province said on Thursday.
The population of the species has increased from approximately 62, as recorded in the 2022 background resources survey. During the survey period, mother and baby dolphins were spotted nine times, indicating a growing trend in the Yangtze finless porpoise population in the reserve.
Yangtze finless porpoises in a park in Nanjing City, east China's Jiangsu Province, July 30, 2024. /CFP
Based on the survey and analysis conducted across four quarters, the finless porpoise population in the nature reserve remains stable, with the species continuing to grow in number.
The Yangtze finless porpoise is a national first-class protected wild animal and its population status serves as a "barometer" of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River.
It is the only freshwater subspecies of the finless porpoise family. The species, only found in the middle and lower main streams of the Yangtze River, has been living there for 25 million years.
(Cover: A Yangtze finless porpoise in a park in Nanjing City, east China's Jiangsu Province, August 8, 2024. /CFP)