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Endangered Species - Vaquita
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The Vaquita - Maya B
What is a vaquita?
Vaquita, or Phocoena sinus are a small species of porpoise that are native the the northern part of the gulf of California. They are also the smallest cetaceans, which are a group of marine mammals that include whales and dolphins and more.
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What do they look like?
Vaquitas are the world's smallest porpoise, they can grow up to 5 feet long and weigh up to 120lbs. They have a set of distinct facial marks- black rings around their eyes and ‘lips’. They also have a lot in common with dolphins (being that they are a type of them) especially their dorsal fin which most aquatic animals have.
Level of Endangerment
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Vaquitas are classified as critially endangered. They are subject to illegal fishing as well as unsustainable fishing practices (mostly for totoaba which lives in the same part of the gulf) which means every year their population drops. According to CIRVA (International Committee for the Recovery of Vaquita) based on the latest population estimate there are only about 9 left.
Life cycle
Not much is known about them, but we guess that they live for about 21 years. They reach maturity at about 6 years old and usually have 1 calf, which is then nursed for several months, then weaned. After that they are 'trained' to hunt for crustaceans, squid and bottom dwelling organisms, some of their favourite foods.
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Habitat
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Vaquitas are native to the northern part of the Mexican Gulf of California. Other than the Vaquitas, the Gulf is a habitat for a number of other animals such as reef fish, turtles, sharks and some whales. The Gulf is known as globally unique because of its amazing biodiversity.
Vaquitas have a very specific habitat; they like to live around 25 kilometres from shore in shallow lagoons, and in water 10 to 28 metres deep.
Recovery Initiatives
In 2014 they declared that there were less than 100 vaquitas left, and the Mexican government was notified. They set a 2-year ban on fishing throughout where the vaquitas habitat was. Though that didn't stop people from illegally fishing, so the population of vaquitas is almost non-existent as of now. After that 2 year ban was up, they esentially gave up on the vaquitas hence the fact that there are only a handful left.
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Population sizes
As I mentioned earlier, there are only about 9 vaquitas left, as of 2021 and they predict they'll go completely extinct as of next year.
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Fun Facts
-Vaquita, just like most porpoises use sonar to communicate with each other and navigate around.
-Vaquita can be translated from Spanish to mean ‘little cow’.
-Females usually grow bigger than males, at around 1.52 meters long while males are only about 1.4.
-The vaquita was discovered in 1958 and only 63 years later, they are already critically endangered. They were only found because someone saw a
couple skulls on the beach.
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Bibliography
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/the-vaquita-5-facts-about-the-most-endangered-marine-mammal
https://defenders.org/blog/2018/03/last-chance-vaquita
https://www.uw360.asia/10-facts-about-the-vanishing-vaquita/
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https://onekindplanet.org/animal/vaquita/
https://kidadl.com/animal-facts/vaquita-facts
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/vaquita/natural_history.html#:~:text=BREEDING%3A%20Mating%20between%20vaquitas%20takes,calf%20about%20every%20two%20years.