Baiji Dolphin
Baiji dolphin (Scientific name:Lipotidae)
The baiji is a mammal belonging to the order cetacea, family lipotidae, and genus lipotes.
Adult baiji are small whales with a spindle-shaped body. They have a long, narrow snout; a longitudinal blowhole located on the left side of the top of the head; extremely small eyes positioned above and behind the corners of the mouth; and pinhole-like ear openings. The dorsal fin is triangular, the flippers are relatively broad with rounded tips, and the tail fin is notched with a crescent shape.
The snout is elongated, the back is light bluish-grey, and the underside is white. Females are larger than males. The species is named for its pure white underside.
The baiji was distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the yangtze river in china, including dongting lake, poyang lake, and the qiantang river estuary.
It is tolerant of cold water and prefers deep river areas, rarely approaching the shore or boats. It often moves into shallow waters to hunt fish and shrimp.
It is social and gentle in nature, usually forming small groups of three to five individuals in winter, sometimes over ten, moving together in search of food.
Its diet mainly consists of fish, along with aquatic insects and plants.
The breeding season is from march to august, producing one calf per birth.
Newborn calves weigh about 5 kg, and the lifespan is generally around 30 years.
In 2017, the baiji was listed as critically endangered on the iucn red list. It is considered functionally extinct and is a class i nationally protected animal in china.
As a rare endemic aquatic mammal, it is known as the “giant panda of the yangtze river” and a “living fossil.” It holds significant scientific value for the study of cetacean evolution, as well as in fields such as bionics, physiology, zoology, and military science.
In 2019,
MBBCAR selected nine wild animals from China as representatives to raise awareness about understanding viruses at their root and discouraging the hunting of wildlife. These animals were incorporated into leather patches, tags, and packaging as a way to remind people not to make harmful choices, while simply recording their population numbers.
In 2026,
we decided to relaunch the animal series as a way to reflect on whether the call to protect wildlife from seven years ago has truly been fulfilled.
The leather patches, tags, and packaging retain the first-generation animal series design, while the numbers printed on the second-generation pocket lining represent the current population of these wild animals.
By comparing these with the numbers on the leather patches and tags, the changes over the past seven years become visible.
An embossed animal graphic is added to the left back pocket, and the inner waistband features an exclusive lining for the animal series.
As of 2026, the wild population of baiji is 0.