Natural History Wanderings

The New York Times  reported on the desperate status of the the Vaquita Porpoises and the difficulty in helping them to survive after humans have driven them close to extinction

In the past five years, the vaquita population — which lives in only a sliver of water between Mexico’s mainland and Baja California — has plummeted by 90 percent. Humans are to blame, but they are not even hunting for the vaquitas themselves.

The animals, the world’s smallest porpoises, get tangled and drown in nets set illegally to catch another endangered species, a fish called the totoaba. The poachers’ bounty is an organ from the totoaba called the swim bladder, which is considered a delicacy and status symbol in China and can sell for up to $50,000 on the black market. It has been dubbed “aquatic cocaine.”

Read full story at  30 Vaquita Porpoises Are Left. One Died in a Rescue Mission. – The New York Times