One of the last freshwater porpoise species on Earth, the Yangtze finless porpoise is currently the only animal living in China's Yangtze River. 

The Yangtze River is the longest in Asia, at approximately 4,000 miles. It was home to the Baiji dolphin, a close relative of the Yangtze finless porpoise declared functionally extinct due to human activity in 2006. This timid species of porpoise is an essential indicator of the well-being of the river environment, which also provides a living for almost 500 million people and accounts for more than 40% of China's GDP. Since there are currently just 500 to 1,800 mature individuals left, the Yangtze finless porpoise is even rarer in the wild than in China's giant panda. In 2017, researchers projected population trends and updated times till extinction for wild Yangtze finless porpoises across their present range using prediction algorithms. 

In the Yangtze River and globally, they discovered that the median anticipated period to extinction ranged from 25 to 33 years. 

By 2054, if nothing changes, the entire species might vanish off the face of the Earth. Incredible levels of biodiversity, including habitats for other threatened species like snow leopards and giant pandas, are protected in the Yangtze River Basin. Additionally, it supports numerous small towns that rely on the river for transportation, agriculture, fishing, and drinking water. Unfortunately, the ecology where Yangtze finless porpoises formerly flourished is being overrun by forces including pollution, shoddy infrastructure, and economic development. It is no secret that China's industrial sector has contributed significantly to its economy, which is concentrated along the Yangtze River. Climate change has posed serious problems for the critical river for decades, including flooding, the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems and water quality, and drought. The ecology is still being threatened by pollution from industrial operations like textile dyeing. According to studies, the Yangtze contributes 55% of all river marine plastic pollution or 1.5 million metric tonnes. Only a few miles from the river is the Three Gorges Dam power facility, the largest hydroelectric power station in the world. Despite claims that it would bring clean energy to China, the dam's construction also resulted in increased commercial transportation, contentious issues, and the arrival of enormous freighters. Like traditional pollutants, pollution from passing boats and barges' strong motors and propellers harms the species.

 Like many other cetaceans, Yangtze porpoises use echolocation, or natural sonar, to navigate their surroundings. According to morphological research, the Yangtze finless porpoise can hear from all sides, which means it might have more trouble picking out messages within the cacophony of practically continual noise.

Artificial noise pollution can separate mothers from their young, disturb foraging cycles, and make it challenging for them to navigate, communicate, or reproduce (Yangtze porpoises only breed once a year, so their population recovery is relatively slow). 

In the water with his mother, a young Yangtze finless porpoise swims at the Hydrobiology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Intense pressure is being placed on river habitats as China soars to new economic heights due to rapid industrialization and population increase. The Yangtze River Basin's human population has more than doubled over the past 50 years, primarily in locations along the river itself, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Poorly planned construction projects, like hydrological engineering, can stop the natural flow of aquatic ecosystems, degrade or destroy entire habitats, or push out entire species. Massive dredging vessels that remove river bottom sand for replacement with concrete for the newest development can also wipe out populations of crustaceans and vegetation that the porpoise depends on for survival. This process is sometimes referred to as sand mining.

Sand mining, which can be done legally or illegally, is infamous for obstructing the channels connecting various bodies of water. The number of boats and ships using the river also increases as it undergoes more significant development. The Dongting and Poyang Lakes, as well as the Tianjin-Zhou Oxbow Nature Reserve, are among the water bodies that link to the Yangtze River and include Yangtze finless porpoises. Even if anglers aren't targeting the animals, porpoises can quickly become unintentionally entangled in fishing gear or struck by fishing vessels because their habitats almost wholly coincide with the primary gillnetting sections of the river. We can draw lessons from the awful predicament of the Baiji dolphin, whose habitat the Yangtze finless porpoise once shared and whose demise was primarily caused by the overfishing of its food source. It makes the battle to save the species' finless porpoise relative seem all too urgent because the Baiji dolphin is also thought to be the first toothed whale species to be driven to extinction by humans, leading to more outstanding research to understand the problem better.

The need for creating a network of reintroduction refuges to protect as many individuals as feasible can be highlighted by research on porpoise populations.

In the Hubei Province of central China, a group of approximately five porpoises was relocated to a "semi-natural" lake habitat in the 1990s; as of 2014, the population has increased to over 60 individuals.11

 While environmentalists engage with local communities to maintain and restore porpoise habitat and support legislation that offers them additional legal protection, researchers continue to monitor and study the species to discover how to protect it best. 

For instance, while traditional visual and counting techniques were used to map the spread of the Yangtze finless porpoise, researchers are now developing more complex ways, such as analyzing environmental DNA in river water. The Yangtze finless porpoise has a lot of groups on its side, whether they are working with local fishermen to find alternate forms of income to reduce overfishing and aid in the development of sustainable economies or mobilizing lawmakers to prioritize its conservation. The Yangtze finless porpoise was given a much-needed victory in 2021 when China's Ministry of Agriculture reclassified it as a National First Grade Key Protected Species. The designation—the strictest category for wild animals permitted by law—allowed environmentalists and the Ministry of Agriculture to impose restrictions on illegal fishing, frequent reviews of preservation efforts, and encroachment on porpoise habitat, migration routes, or feeding grounds.