比大熊猫还稀有的物种？ An animal, rarer than a panda

An animal, rarer(稀有) than a panda, was seen happily jumping(跳) up and down in the fresh water of the Yangtze River in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing.

It may be the first time that the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise(长江江豚) has been clearly sighted in the city in decades. Tap on the photos to know more about this mysterious creature.

The Yangtze finless porpoise, with its appearance similar to dolphins(海豚), normally lives along the Yangtze River that has the most populous regions in China.

Starting in the 1980s, the finless porpoise population began to rapidly decline(减少), down by 5% to 10% annually. But the river used to be home to thousands of the animals in the 1950s.

These declines come as a result of industrial(工业) and agricultural(农业) pollution(污染) impacting(影响) the river system, boat traffic in the river basin and most importantly changes to their habitat by infrastructure that cuts off their ability to navigate through the river to find food sources and reproduce, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Based on data in 2012, there are only 1,200 to 1,500 Yangtze finless porpoises remaining in China, fewer than the giant panda. The mammals are estimated(估计) to survive(存活) less than a decade if no immediate measures are taken.

China has been actively working to protect the animal in recent years. The plans include moving them to new homes that are far away from humans.

Eight finless porpoises were released to the Xijiang water area in central China's Anhui province last November. 

The new home for the eight finless porpoises is the third such "re-home" reserve zone(区域) in China.

Authorities are planning to build another two to five reserve zones for finless porpoise relocation.

词汇 Words:

[xī yǒu ] 稀有 rare
[tiào] 跳 jump
[jiǎn shǎo] 减少 decline
[wū rǎn] 污染 pollute
[yǐng xiǎng] 影响 impact
[gū jì] 估计 estimate
[cún huó] 存活 survive
[qū yù ] 区域 zone

重点词汇 Key Word:

稀 <形容词 adj.> 

sparse; thinly scattered; thin
E.g. Yuè míng xīng xī。
月明星稀。
The moon is bright and the satrs are few. 

rare; uncommon
E.g. Rén shēng qī shí gǔ lái xī。
人生七十古来稀。
Since ancient times, men have rarely lived to be seventy. 

watery; dilute
E.g. Wǒ chī chóu de,nǐ hē xī de。
我吃稠的,你喝稀的。
I'll have solid food and you'll have gruel.