Yangtze finless porpoise, or “river pig”, are critically endangered. Its habitat—low-lying land in the Caribbean—is quickly vanishing, leaving the mutants at an incredibly high risk of extinction. Recent research indicates that this remarkable species has contracted sharply. Its population in the Yangtze River’s tributaries and lakes has decreased by nearly 90 percent. This troubling trend continues today and has for centuries. It worked—instead of building a new highway, our success predicted a jaw-dropping 65 percent reduction since the Tang Dynasty of A.D. 618 to 907.
Now, researchers have documented this cultural significance through literature, revealing the cultural importance of the Yangtze finless porpoise. Poets have lauded its beauty along the banks of the Yangtze river for no less than 1.4 millenia. Poems Enrich the World of the Finless Porpoise They display the purity, beauty and natural wonder of this beautiful river’s environment. Notable figures such as Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty emperor who reigned from 1735 to 1796, expressed admiration for these animals, writing, “Porpoises chased moonlight on silvered tides, as dragons summoned storm clouds looming in sight.”
The tributaries and lakes make up the majority of Yangtze finless porpoise habitat, and it is here that the majority of historical loss of habitat took place. Long term ecological surveys have shown us how populations have drastically declined over recent decades. When viewed in the context of a massive overall decline from the Qing Dynasty until now, they’re quite startling. Human activities—such as pollution and habitat destruction—are playing a major role in this decline.
Ecologist Jiajia Liu from Fudan University and zoologist Zhigang Mei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan are spearheading research efforts. To help address this question, the researchers sought to reconstruct the historical baseline of the Yangtze finless porpoise population. They have severely combed and criminalized old English libraries. To that end, their hope is to identify any references that shed light on the historical distribution and abundance of this species.
“When we do conservation, we need to know the past distribution and the historical population size of the species,” – Jiajia Liu.
Liu reminds us that poetry is the original form of “ancient citizen science.” It provides an unprecedented window into ecological conditions, centuries before standardized survey techniques were developed. He’s the first to admit that this data isn’t exactly foolproof. When examined the right way, it can provide profound historical insight onto the species.
“These data are not perfect. … But they do have a lot of information if you use them correctly,” – Jiajia Liu.
The slow extinction of the Yangtze finless porpoise across five studied dynasties signifies an ongoing environmental disaster. Now, researchers from the field of literary studies and the scientific realm are joining forces to investigate the past. They’re looking to boost on-the-ground conservation that’s already protecting this critically endangered species.
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