Today, we are going to bring a focus on the Vaquita, the rarest marine mammal on earth. Vaquita’s are not very well known. They are porpoises, closely related to dolphins and whales. Vaquitas are up to five feet long in length with black circles surrounding their eyes. They have dark gray coloring along their backs and light blue on their sides. Their stomachs are white. The colors of the skin are very important, because it helps them blend in in open water and sand. These porpoises are located in the farthest northern tip of the Gulf of California, off of Mexico.
Vaquita's population has decreased 98.6% since 2011, resulting in only around 10 remaining. It will be hard for them to bounce back, because they are only able to have a baby every other year. The length of time it takes to carry the baby is sometimes over a year, which is just too long and too infrequent making it hard for them to attempt repopulation.
The reason that Vaquitas are so rare is because of the Totoaba fish. They are roughly the same length of the vaquita, so the nets that humans made to capture the totoaba often caught vaquitas instead, resulting in the major decrease of the vaquita population. These are nets called gillnets, and the reason that the totoaba are so sought for is because it is said that their swim bladder (large air filled sack that keeps them afloat) has medicinal powers in a certain type of soup, so it is shipped by poachers in California to illegal markets in china, where it is sold for up to $80,000 per kilogram. Sometimes, the bladders are smuggled across Mexico, or sometimes even America, on its route to these illegal markets in China.
The Vaquita was discovered in 1958, when there were thousands more of them. But over the last few decades, the Vaquita got killed off so much that they are in the top 5 most endangered species on earth, and definitely the most endangered cetacean.
A Vaquitas diet consists of varied crustaceans, multiple species of fish, cephalopods (like squid and octopuses) and algae. They find their food by using echolocation and then catching the fish. They use echolocation because it is far too murky and deep in the ocean to find food through sight.
There is still hope for Vaquita if we take immediate action! We need to help pass laws to increase government awareness! Since Gillnets are already banned we need to take even more actions in prohibiting them. One way to help is by writing to local politicians near the Gulf Of Mexico and the Gulf Of California. If we can create specific “safe zones” for Vaquitas and other surrounding animals, we can slowly help create Vaquita awareness and an extra level of safety and comfort for these porpoises.
Want an extra way to help the Vaquita's? Donate to Save The Vaquita's or https://porpoise.org/save-the-vaquita/ and sponsor their mission to save these beautiful creatures.
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