Essay On Vaquitas

Words: 427
Pages: 2

The vaquita
Vaquita, the world’s most rare marine mammal, is on the edge of extinction. This mammal wasn’t discovered until 1958 and now, they are on the brink of being lost forever.
Appearance
The species is distinguishable by the dark rings surrounding their eyes, patches on their lips that form a thin line from the mouth to the pectoral fins. Vaquitas’ dorsal surface is dark grey, sides pale grey and ventral surface is white (with long, light gray markings). (It is a part of whale and dolphin family).As vaquitas mature, the shades of grey lighten. They have a rather large fin on their backs for their size which is 1,2 to 1,5 m in length and 41 to 54 kg in weight.
Habitat
Vaquitas have the most restricted range of any marine cetacean. They appear to live only in the northern end of the Gulf of California. They inhabit shallow waters near the coastline, usually in water no more than 11 to 50 meters deep and in these areas, Vaquitas feed on ocean fishes and squid.
Threats
Unfortunately, their habitat is located in same areas where many local shrimping and fishing boats go to send out nets for their catch. The vaquitas unintentionally get trapped in their gillnets as bycatch and die. It is believed that about 30 vaquitas are lost to these threats each year. Which is an enormous number considering that there are fewer than 60, some
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In addition, there should be more information about the problem and that is what International Save the Vaquita Day is for. The primary goal of this day is to make as many people as possible aware of the vaquita and its plight, and spur them to act. Besides that, there is a possibility to adopt an animal. It is a symbolic adoption, which helps to save real animals in the wild. Lastly, conservationist are recommending the Mexican authorities to trap some vaquitas in attempt to breed them in