Yangtze finless porpoises, a cousin of dolphins and whales, are so endangered that there are fewer than 600 left. Anywhere. The porpoises live in the longest river in Eurasia, which has been industrially polluted for years. But China has been cleaning its rivers and lakes to make them habitable for aquatic life again.
Two frisky male finless porpoises escaped their monitored breeding area and were destined for ruin due to having no food or protection.
Biologists found and relocated the fish, and after two years, they were thriving, so they were released to be back with their own kind. But their own kind were, of course, wild. Accepting? Maybe. It had never been done, so who knows?
Three years after that, the two rebels were hunting and dating on their own and accepted by other wild pods.
So. The Yangtze River was restored, the finless porpoises defied confinement and uncertainty, and the species stands good chance of increasing its numbers instead of going dark.
These fish smile. They have the intelligence of gorillas.
They’re not underdogs anymore.