A new breakthrough was made in artificial breeding of Yangtze finless porpoise, and the second generation finless porpoise was bred for the first time.
China News Service, Wuhan, 21 September (Ma Furong, Sun Hui) A female finless porpoise, code-named F9C, born in the Baiju Dolphin Museum of Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, turned 100 days on the 21st. It is the fourth Yangtze finless porpoise born and survived in an artificial environment, and the second Changjiang Dai finless porpoise successfully bred for the first time in an artificial environment, marking a new breakthrough in the research on the breeding and protection technology of the Yangtze finless porpoise.
F9C’s mother, Fujiu, is 11 years old. In 2011, she was introduced from Poyang Lake to Baibo Dolphin Museum of Institute of Aquatic Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dad Taotao, 14 years old, was born in July 2005 in Baiji Dolphin Museum, Institute of Aquatic Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is the first Yangtze finless porpoise successfully bred in an artificial environment in the world.
Zheng Jinsong, an associate researcher at the Institute of Aquatic Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that Taotao has been living in the Baiji Dolphin Museum since his birth, and researchers have implemented a series of reproductive auxiliary technologies to ensure that Taotao’s reproductive behavior is normal. In the summer of 2018, Taotao and Fujiu successfully mated. On June 11th, 2019, F9C was born.
Zheng Jinsong revealed that after two critical periods, namely, the establishment of mother-child relationship and breast-feeding, F9C is now in good health, normal development and rich behavior. He said that the birth and healthy growth of F9C proved that finless porpoises born in a completely artificial environment can successfully reproduce the next generation by implementing a series of reproductive auxiliary technologies.
After more than 40 years’ efforts, the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences has established a complete technical system including the design of feeding facilities, prevention and control of common diseases, pregnancy diagnosis and monitoring, and nursing care of newborn porpoises, and has successfully bred three first-generation Yangtze finless porpoises.
"We can’t expect to save the Yangtze finless porpoise by artificial breeding." Wang Ding, a researcher at the Institute of Aquatic Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the most important value of artificial breeding is to deeply understand the characteristics of the Yangtze finless porpoise, such as reproductive biology, developmental biology, behavior, bio-acoustics, nutrition, etc., to help the Yangtze finless porpoise nature protection, and at the same time promote the multidisciplinary basic research and technology development of rare aquatic species protection.
Yangtze finless porpoise is a rare freshwater cetacean endemic to China. It is probably the only aquatic mammal and the top species of food chain living in the mainstream of the Yangtze River. The results of the 2017 scientific research show that the population of Yangtze finless porpoise is about 1012, and the situation is extremely endangered. (End)