Dolphin species feared extinct is videotaped swimming in China's Yangtze River

A Chinese man has videotaped a large white animal swimming in the Yangtze River, which experts say is a dolphin species unique to China and feared extinct. The last confirmed sighting of the long-beaked, nearly blind baiji was in 2004. After an international team failed to find a single dolphin on a six-week expedition last year the species was classified as critically endangered and possibly extinct. But the video from central Anhui province may renew slender hopes for the survival of the creatures. "I never saw such a big thing in the water before, so I filmed it," Zeng Yujiang told Xinhua news agency. "It was about 1,000 metres away and jumped out of the water several times."

© National Post 2007