Why is there no Chinese river dolphin (aka. baiji) in captivity?

Question

They are now thought to be extinct after a fruitless search in 2006. If true, they're the first cetacean (whale/dolphin/porpoise/narwal) to go extinct due to human activity. I wonder why no one tried a captive breeding program or if there was such an effort that just didn't work.

Answer 1

I can't remember but I think they're very similar to Pandas in that they are hard to hold captive, because of issues with breeding. Of course they do have pandas in some zoos, so who knows!

Answer 2

They cannot replicat a crappy environment in a lab.  The yangze is a really muddy river because it's really muddy.  The dolphins are blind.

Answer 3

A few baiji dolphins were held in captivity over the years, but most of them couldn't survive there and none ever bred. Captive breeding only works about half the time--that's why most zoos tend to have the same animals on display.

Sorry to add more bad news to an already downbeat thread, but it is important to recognize that no technological quick-fix is as good a solution as preserving the wild habitat itself. We can expect to see many more eco-tragedies like this in the near future, as China re-enacts the Industrial Revolution with a billion people and no institutionalized environmental protection.