BBC-China Dolphin Extinction
[WORDS]
♧ likelihood : n. 가능성, 있음직함
♧ the Yangtze river
♧ extinct : a. 절멸한, 멸종한
♧ zoological : a. 동물학의, 동물에 관한
♧ baiji dolphin
♧ modernization : n. 근대화
♧ blame A for B : B를 A의 탓으로 보다
♧ demise : n. 붕어, 사망, 서거
♧ gorge : n. 골짜기, 계곡
♧ conservation : n. 보호, 보존
♧ in the wild : ad. 야생에서
♧ sighting : n. 목격, 관찰 예
♧ freshwater : n. 민물, 담수
♧ fin : n. 지느러미, 물갈퀴
♧ porpoise : n. 참돌고래
There is every likelihood that the Yangtze river dolphin is extinct, according to the Zoological Society of London. The society participated in an international survey which examined over 1,500 kilometers of the river last year and failed to find a single baiji dolphin. Back in the late 1990s a similar survey found thirteen live dolphins. In the 1950s their population numbered in the thousands.
China's rapid modernization is blamed for the dolphin's demise. Industrial pollution, heavy river traffic and the construction of the Three Gorges dam are thought to have killed many.
However, the World Conservation Union says that an animal can only be declared extinct if it hasn't been found in the wild for fifty years. The last confirmed sighting of the baiji dolphin was five years ago, although there have been unconfirmed sightings since then.
But even if a number of the dolphins have survived, they and other freshwater animals, like the Yangtze finless porpoise, are in serious danger of disappearing forever.