📸 PhotoPhoto: Charles Hoy · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Baiji
Lipotes vexillifer (Baiji · ヨウスコウカワイルカ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Long protected by custom in China and now designated a 'Class 1' national treasure, the plight of this dolphin has prompted reflection on river conservation worldwide.
- 💡 In the past, fat from accidentally caught individuals was used as medicine and the meat was eaten.
- 💡 Its maximum body length of 2.53 m is about 1.5 times the height of a 1.7 m adult (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Baiji is a freshwater dolphin that lived only in China's Yangtze River and is now listed as Critically Endangered (CR).
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It has a streamlined body and a long, slightly upturned beak. Its back is pale bluish-gray and its belly is white. Its small eyes have poor vision, so it relies on echolocation to find prey, and it has 30–36 teeth on each side of both the upper and lower jaws.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Feeding mainly on fish, it probes muddy bottoms with its long beak. It forages near eddies during the day and rests in slow currents at night, usually traveling in pairs that sometimes gather into groups of about 10.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List CR (2017) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12119/50362206
- • IUCN Red List category CR — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006458
- • iucnredlist.org — 50362206
- • wikidata.org — Q188130
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Baiji Dolphin killed by Charles Hoy 1914.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Lipotes vexillifer
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.