csnews:‘Days or months left’ for porpoise species Vaquita as it nears extinction Cat
csnews: ‘Days or months left’ for porpoise species Vaquita as it nears extinction Catrin Rutland - August 5, 2019 It could be just days or weeks until the world’s smallest porpoise becomes extinct, experts have warned. The Vaquita species was only discovered in 1958, but within a few decades numbers have hit critical levels. “We are down to 6-19 individuals remaining, by now these numbers have probably halved,” Professor Len Thomas, a statistician at the University of St Andrews, wrote in the British journal Royal Society Open Science. “We are in the final few days or months for this species.” The plight of the rare mammal has been tracked extensively, and since 2011 researchers have reported a 98.6% drop in numbers. The porpoise only lives in a small area within the Gulf of California. It has already been classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Keep reading -- source link