CONSERVATION
Friday, January 19, 2007
2007
Year of the
ANIMAL
Dolphin
This year, people from all over the world
are diving into the conservation of these
amazing mammals, writes Skywalker
Translated by Lon Yan
B. Multi-angle
The United Nations has declared 2007 as
the Year of the Dolphin. If we were to do the
same for an animal species on land, which
one would you choose? Why?
C. Critical thinking
Why are humans posing threats to the existence of dolphins? Is it too late to save the
dolphins?
About Chinese White Dolphins
Think about this
WHAT should we do to protect dolphins?
Discuss with your classmates.
ACCORDING to the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation,
Chinese White Dolphins (中華白海豚) have been living in
the Pearl River Estuary and Hong Kong waters for hundreds of years.
The name “Chinese White Dolphin” is only used in
mainland China and Hong Kong. Scientists elsewhere
refer to them as the “Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin” (印
度太平洋駝背豚).
The group of Chinese White Dolphins living along the
coast of Southern China undergo the greatest colour
changes in their life – newborns are usually dark grey,
juveniles become pinkish and adults are mostly pink with
only a few spots.
True or false?
If the statement is true, put a
in the box; put an X if it is false
1. Dolphins are a kind of fish.
2. Dolphins breathe with lungs.
3. Dolphins are social animals (群居的動物).
3)
THE existence of this lovely animal is being
threatened by human activities – some of
them got entangled (纏著) in fishing nets
and died, some were killed by chemicals
and other pollutants in the sea, and others
were driven away from their habitat.
The United Nations, together with different countries in the world and various
organisations, are building a strong alliance
to protect dolphins. The alliance believes
that a crucial factor in achieving this is
“education to create awareness of dolphin
species, educate, inform decision makers
and involve local communities.”
THE United Nations
website on the Year of
the Dolphin listed the
threats human beings are
creating for dolphins:
“The health of many of
the world’s dolphin populations are threatened by
bycatch (誤捕), pollution, habitat (生存環境) destruction,
over-fishing and climate change.
“Other threats include activities that may frighten, displace (迫走) or harm these species such as underwater
noise pollution from sources such as shipping traffic,
wind farms, seismic surveys (地質勘察) and military
sonars (軍事聲納) .”
2)
Education is the key
Human threats
A. Knowledge
What do you know about dolphins?
1) X
M
Questions
Answers
ANY of you must have seen
dolphins in Ocean Park. Have
you fallen in love with this
beautiful animal after seeing
them up close?
However, human activities are endangering the lives of dolphins. As part of concerted worldwide efforts to protect these
species, the United Nations has declared
2007 as the Year of the Dolphin (國際海豚年).
Chinese White Dolphin – Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society
http://www.hkdcs.org/QnA/HKdolp_cwd_en.htm
Year of the Dolphin website
http://www.yod2007.org/en/Start_page/index.html
E09