What does it mean to identify Yangtze River finless porpoise as an independent species
4hw.com.cn: scientists from China and the United States recently published a paper in a famous scientific journal, saying that there is a significant and stable genetic differentiation between the Yangtze River porpoise and the sea porpoise, so the Yangtze River porpoise can be identified as an independent species.
This paper was published in the natural communication. It points out that the Yangtze River porpoise and the puffer fish belong to the subspecies of "narrow ridge porpoise". After years of observation, there are a lot of gene differences between the Yangtze River porpoise and the puffer fish, and there is also reproductive isolation between them. Therefore, the Yangtze River porpoise can be identified as an independent species. With the Yangtze River finless porpoise 'upgrading' as an independent species, the current cetacean species have increased from 89 to 90.
In 2013, the Yangtze River finless porpoise was listed in the IUCN Red List of critically endangered species and listed in Appendix I of cites to the Washington Convention. At present, there are about 1000 pandas, and about 2000 giant pandas.