Saving Yangtze Porpoises Can Save China (Gallery)

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) contributed the images for this gallery to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. 

The Yangtze River dolphin went extinct just a decade ago, and now the river may soon lose it's mystical "smiling" porpoise. But new efforts in China may reverse that fate. WWF's Karin Krchnak reveals how the porpoise may yet survive in the Op-Ed "As China Saves its 'Smiling' Porpoise, It Saves Its People ," and see images from the effort in the gallery below.

Happy-go-lucky

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A finless porpoise swimming in the Research Centre for Aquatic Biodiversity and Resource Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. (Credit: © WWF / Kent Truog.)

Moving day

Chinese scientists and local fishermen head out into the Yangtze River in China to find finless porpoises for translocation. (Credit: © WWF / Li Kui.)

Safety ahead

Using a net, chinese scientists and local fishermen capture finless porpoises for translocation to a safer location. (Credit: © WWF / Li Kui.)

Fragile cargo

Chinese scientists carry a finless porpoise during a translocation exercise near the Yangtze River, China. (Credit: © WWF / Li Kui.)

Taking vitals

Chinese scientists carefully measure a finless porpoise during a translocation exercise near the Yangtze River, China. (Credit: © WWF / Li Kui.) 

More tests

A finless porpoise has blood drawn during during a translocation exercise near the Yangtze River, China. (Credit: © WWF / Li Kui.)

Sizing him up

Chinese scientists carefully measure a finless porpoise near the Yangtze River before transporting it to a safer freshwater location. (Credit: © WWF / Li Kui.)

Mealtime

A man throws fish to finless porpoises during a translocation exercise in the Yangtze River, China. (Credit: © WWF / Li Kui.)

A solitary moment

A finless porpoise swims in the Research Centre for Aquatic Biodiversity and Resource Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. (Credit: © WWF / Yi Qing.)

Home sweet home

Two finless porpoises swim free after translocation in their secured, new home, He-wang-miao /Ji-cheng-yuan oxbow in China. (Credit: © WWF-UK / Sun Xiaodong.)

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