Baiji: Lipotidae - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, Baiji And People, Conservation Status - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET
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The baiji lives along the 1,056 miles (1,700 kilometers) of the Yangtze River in eastern China. During the late spring and early summer, this freshwater dolphin moves to smaller streams and lakes if the water is high enough. At one time the lakes of Dongting and Poyang were home to the baiji year-round, but with the drop in water level these lakes can no longer support its presence.
The baiji is often found at places where tributaries (smaller streams) enter the river or along sandbars and dikes. When resting, it spends a lot of its time where the river is wide and slow moving. The baiji comes closer to shore to feed. During this time, it uses its long beak or snout to probe through the mud on the river's bottom.
Baijis, like many dolphins, are carnivores and have a diet consisting only of fish. A wide variety of species is consumed, limited only by the size of fish that can fit down its throat. Most of the fish are less than 2.6 inches (6.5 cm) long and weigh less than 9 ounces (250 grams). The baiji does not chew its food. It eats the whole fish at once, head first.
Additional Topics
The baiji is a freshwater river dolphin that lives in the Yangtze (yang-see) River in eastern China. It has a long, narrow beak (snout), which curves slightly upward and grows longer with age. It has a steeply sloped forehead and tiny eyes that are set high on the sides of the head. These eyes are only slightly functional and leave the dolphin almost completely blind. This is why baijis use echolo…
Little is known about the baiji because so few of them are left in the world. In the wild they are extremely shy, easily frightened, and difficult to approach. The baiji are thought to live in groups of two to seven individuals, but groups as large as sixteen have been observed. They do not leap out of the water the way some other dolphins do, but only expose their head and beak when they come to …
Hope of saving the baijis is dim. Although it was declared a National Treasure of China and has been protected from hunting
since 1975, the population continues to decline. Human use of the Yangtze River may be too intense for the baiji to survive. There have been many ideas about how to help this dolphin survive, including capturing animals for breeding, developing "semi-natural reser…
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