A newly born Yangtze finless porpoise (top) swims with his mother at the Hydrobiology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on June 3, 2007. (Photo : Getty Images)
The population of China’s finless porpoise at a reserve in the Yangtze River has steadily risen from 22 to 50 in the past five years, according to the provincial aquatic products bureau of central China’s Hubei Province.
The survey was conducted on Nov. 19 at the Tianezhou National Nature Reserve to examine the DNA, blood, appearance and activities of the porpoises, Zhang Zenhua, deputy director of the reserve, told the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.
According to Zhang, the survey is scheduled to be conducted once every five years.
As of Tuesday, researchers have done physical examinations of 49 porpoises and have counted more than 50 living in the reserve, of which seven are said to be pregnant and nine newborn.
The increase of the population could be due to the improved environment, Zhang said.
There are currently an estimated 1,000 finless porpoises living in the wild, most of which are found in the Yangtze River and in two lakes fed by the waterway.
The porpoise population was around 1,040 in 2012, compared to 1,800 in 2006, a decrease of nearly 14 percent per year, according to a joint survey conducted in 2012 by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Chinese Academy of Science, and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The Tianezhou reserve was set up in 1992 to protect the porpoises in a 21-km traffic-free section of the river.
The reserve is planning to transfer four of the creatures to another reserve in Hubei to help boost the porpoise population there.
