The species, which survived for 20 million years, was killed off by pollution in China’s rivers.

Shanghai (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The “baiji”, a rare, nearly blind white dolphin that survived for 20 million years, has been declared “effectively extinct”. A six-week trip along the Yangtze River by a team of researchers failed to track signs of the mammal anywhere.

August Pfluger, co-head of the expedition and chief of Swiss-based baiji.org, an environmental group, said: "It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the entire world... We have to accept the fact that the baiji is extinct.” However Pfluger admitted that it was possible that one or two dolphins had been missed by researchers despite the use of high-tech equipment and trained observers.

Scientists believe the baiji is one of the most ancient fresh water mammals, which made its home in the lower reaches of the Yangtze. It is held that there were at least 400 baijis in the Yangtze in the eighties. But the last extensive research – in 1997 – only uncovered 13 dolphins.

Most scientists believe the extinction of the white dolphin is due to rising pollution in the Yangtze, caused by China’s unchecked industrial development. Environmentalists have warned that without targeted measures, the Yangtze will be a dead river within three years.

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