The baiji, or Yangtze River dolphin, was already functionally endangered by 1993 — decades of dam construction, industrial pollution, and net fishing on the Yangtze had collapsed the population to a few dozen individuals. A 2006 survey found none. The species is now considered extinct, making this coin an inadvertent document of a conservation failure rather than a success.
The baiji, or Yangtze River dolphin, was already functionally endangered by 1993 — decades of dam construction, industrial pollution, and net fishing on the Yangtze had collapsed the population to a few dozen individuals. A 2006 survey found none. The species is now considered extinct, making this coin an inadvertent document of a conservation failure rather than a success.