Tag: East Asia

Chinesischer Flussdelfin / Baiji
Illustration of the Chinese river dolphin (baiji)—once a characteristic resident of the Yangtze. With its long, narrow snout and the sickle-shaped dorsal fin, the baiji was unmistakable. Today, the species is considered “functionally extinct”. (© Doc Taxon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Chinese river dolphin: Is the baiji still alive?

The last confirmed sighting of the baiji, also known as the Chinese river dolphin, is now more than 20 years ago. The IUCN therefore classifies the species as “Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)”. Scientifically, its continued existence is considered extremely unlikely, but occasional sighting reports and video recordings at least leave

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Hokkaido-Wolf Canis lupus hattai
The Hokkaido wolf, one of two wolf subspecies that went extinct in Japan, was captured in this illustration by the English zoologist St. George Mivart in 1890. (© Mivart, St. George Jackson (30 November 1827 – 1 April 1900), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Hokkaidō Wolf

Harmful animals in Hokkaido In Japanese mythology, both the extinct Honshu wolf and the Hokkaido wolf, also known as the Ezo wolf, are revered as benevolent beings. One legend, similar to the Roman myth of Romulus and Remus, recounts that a son of Fujiwara no Hidehira, a 12th-century Japanese noble

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Schwertstör Psephurus gladius
Drawing of a Chinese paddlefish from 1868. The frontal portion made up around one-third of the fish's total length. Chinese paddlefish reached lengths of more than three meters and weights of up to 300 kilograms. (© Muséum d'histoire Naturelle, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Chinese Paddlefish

An ancient swimming fossil in the Yangtze River—the Chinese paddlefish The Chinese paddlefish and its relatives were already swimming through Earth’s waters more than 100 million years ago. This freshwater predator, said to have reached lengths of seven meters and weights of several thousand pounds, survived the mass extinction 66

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