The only captive example of the world's most endangered species of dolphin has died, China's state media reported on Sunday.
Qiqi the white-finned dolphin passed away in Wuhan on Sunday at the approximate age of 24, Xinhua said.
Scientists at the Hydrobiology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan put his death down to old age and said they were surprised because Qiqi had been behaving normally on Saturday.
Qiqi was captured in 1980 by a fisherman in the Yangtze River, the main habitat for the species which is unique to China. He spent the next 22-and-a-half years swimming alone in a 300-square-meter pool in Wuhan, the capital city of the central province of Hubei.
( July 15, 2002)
