The photos show scientists raising rare and threatened animals in the longest river in China
Wang Ding, the hydrobiological researcher who directed the protection of the mailbox of Yangtze Nangtze in danger, stands near some of the captive mammals of the Hydrobiology Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences of Wuhan in the center of China Hubei on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han’s
A dozen Elegant Gray Gray Fine Gray Fine Gray Slips Slide into a large swimming pool at the Wuhan Hydrobiology Institute while scientists find ways to protect and raise rare mammals in the longest river in China.
The Yangtze river is one of the most popular interior sailors in the world with 16 main ports. The freight shipment volume along the river exceeded 4 billion metric tonnes (4.4 billion tonnes of American) in 2024, according to the state media.
Le Marsouin without fins has become a river health barometer. The population population in critical danger of extinction fell from more than 2,500 in the 1990s to only 1,012 in 2017 due to pollution, boats traffic and illegal fishing that exhausted food supplies, researchers said.
The change has alarmed the scientific community, including the veteran researcher Wang Ding. He led an international team on a search for Baiji Dolphins in 2006, another species that approached extinction. Despite a nine -day search, not a single dolphin was found and the baiji was declared functionally extinguished. The latest Baiji captive dolphin is suspended in a museum with other rare aquatic species.
“We fear that if this animal could not survive in the Yangtze, the other species will disappear, like dominoes, one by one of the river,” said Wang.
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The porpoises without fins in Yangtze captivity are visible at the Institute of Hydrobiology under the Chinese Academy of Wuhan Sciences in the province of Hubei of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
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Wang Ding, the Hydrobiological Researcher who Has Led The Protection of the Endangered Yangtze Finless Porpoise, Talks about the Variety of Lifeforms Along the Yangtze River at the Institute of Hydrobiology Under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan in Central China’s Hubei Province on June 16, Photo/Ng Han Guan
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Children are held near a specimen of a coelacanthe displayed at the Museum of Hydro-Biological Sciences in Wuhan in the Hubei province of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / NG Han Guan
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Wang Ding, the hydrobiological researcher who directed the protection of porpoise in danger for the Yangtze fins, stands near the specimens and skeletons of aquatic mammals at the Institute of Hydrobiology under the province of Hubei of the center of China on June 16.
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Children are held near an aquatic specimen displayed at the Museum of Hydro-Biological Sciences in Wuhan in the Hubei province of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / NG Han Guan
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The specimens of aquatic life forms found in the Yangtze river are presented at the Museum of Hydro-Biological Sciences in Wuhan in the province of Hubei of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
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The specimens of aquatic life forms found in the Yangtze river are presented at the Museum of Hydro-Biological Sciences in Wuhan in the province of Hubei of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
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Examples of aquatic life forms found in the Yangtze river are presented at the Museum of Hydro-Biological Sciences in Wuhan in the province of Hubei of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
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A boat is seen along the Yangtze river while the sun sets near Yichang in the province of Hubei in the center of China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
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An elderly man flies in the water along the shores of the Yangtze river near Yichang in the province of Hubei of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
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The tanks of the outfit for 3000 Chinese sturgeons in danger criticizing in danger are seen at the rare fish conservation center of the three gorges along the Yangtze river in the province of Hubei of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
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Chinese sturgeons in danger in the critical way are seen at the rare fish conservation center of the three gorges along the Yangtze river in the province of the central Hubei center on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / NG Han Guan
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A sculpture representing rowers of dragon boats is visible along the banks of the Yangtze river near Yichang in the province of Hubei of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / NG Han Guan
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An elderly man walks along the shores of the Yangtze river after having swam near Yichang in Hubei province of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / NG Han Guan
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The residents walk along the river shore near the Gezhouba dam, the first dam on the Yangtze river where wild porpoises without wings were spotted, near Yichang in Hubei province of Central China on June 16, 2025. Credit: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
Conservation efforts have been put in place. The Yangtze river protection law was promulgated in 2021, prohibiting fishing for 10 years, moving factories and prohibiting wastewater and chemical streams in the river. Today, the population of porpoises without Yangtze fins is up to around 1,300.
To protect Chinese sturgeon, also a critical endangered species of extinction, scientists have started to raise artificially and release thousands of fish in the Yangtze with the hope of restoring the wild population.
Scientists have called for additional measures to regulate shipping and an extension of the 10 -year fishing ban.
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