With only 10 left, scientists say this tiny porpoise could survive – if we let it
8:00
The endangered vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest whale, is down to perhaps ten individuals, its population demolished by victimization as fatal bycatch in illegal fisheries. Chris Kyriazis, an evolutionary biologist at UCLA, was part of a team that looked at the vaquita’s genetic potential to recover, if those few individuals survive. They found inbreeding was not likely to compromise the species, but that continuing fatalities would have to end for the species to have a chance. His research was published in Science.