Maui dolphin
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Maui Dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus hectori maui ) |
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| Cephalorhynchus hectori maui | ||||||||||||
| Baker , Smith & Pichler , 2002 |
The Maui dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus hectori maui , also Popoto ( Maori )) is one of the rarest and smallest members of the dolphin family and is acutely threatened with extinction . According to current estimates, only about 55 adult animals are still alive. The Maui dolphin is currently considered a subspecies of the Hector dolphin - the only endemic whale species in New Zealand.
distribution
Maui dolphins have so far only been seen on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island . They stay in shallow waters (no deeper than 20 meters) and rarely move far from the coast.
features
Maui dolphins are between 1.2 and 1.4 meters tall and weigh up to 50 kilograms . The maximum age is around 20 years. The sides of the body and the back are light gray , the underside is lighter, up to white . The dorsal and caudal fins are black, and there is also a black mark between the breath opening and the eyes.
Animal protection & dissemination
The IUCN lists the Maui dolphin as critically endangered. Around 2,000 specimens were still alive in the 1970s. The Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, Simon Bridges , released a 3,000 square kilometer area for oil exploration in April 2014, meaning that the range of the Maui dolphins is no longer fully protected. For the election year in New Zealand, the WWF asked the politicians running for the House of Representatives (elections in September 2014) to intensify the protection of the species with a collection of 55,000 signatures . NABU International reported in 2016 that the number of Maui dolphins had dropped to 42 individuals according to their calculations. Ten of them are fertile females. In February 2017, the journal Science reported a census by the University of Auckland , according to which the population in 2016 was 63 individuals; two previous censuses had identified 69 and 55 specimens.
In 2019, the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd asked the responsible authorities in the USA to ban the import of New Zealand fishery products, which endangered the survival of the Maui dolphins. The basis for this should be the Marine Mammal Protection Act , a law that aims to reduce bycatch of marine mammals worldwide and not only in the USA. The petition was denied. Sea Shepherd then filed a lawsuit against the relevant authorities in May 2020 because they had failed to implement the legal requirements.
Systematics
The Maui dolphins belong to the Hector dolphins ( Cephalorhynchus hectori ). Genetic differences and the low gene flow between them and the main population of the Hector dolphins, which occur mainly in the coastal area around New Zealand's South Island, led to their being separated from the nominate form as the subspecies Cephalorhynchus hectori maui in 2002 .
Web links
- https://www.doc.govt.nz/ - Department of Conservation , New Zealand official website on Maui Dolphins . ( english )
- wwf.panda.org/mauis-dolphine - WWF website about the Maui Dolphin. ( english )
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10782725
- ^ Māui dolphin. Retrieved April 24, 2019 (en-nz).
- ↑ wwf.panda.org/mauis_dolphin , WWF website. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ RR Reeves: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Cephalorhynchus hectori ssp. maui. July 1, 2008, accessed June 16, 2020 .
- ^ Tracey Cooper : Govt opens Maui's dolphin area for oil drilling . In: NewsHub . MediaWorks TV , June 17, 2014, accessed May 1, 2019 .
- ^ Maui's dolphin danger: 'We're running out of time' , The New Zealand Herald website, May 19, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ↑ NABU PRESS RELEASE | 6. JULY 2016. International species protection / dolphins. NABU Number of the Month: Only 42 Maui Dolphins Left Worldwide. New Zealand's sea dolphins close to extinction, sighted July 6, 2016
- ^ Christopher Pala: New Zealand's endemic dolphins are hanging by a thread. In: Science . Volume 355, No. 6325, 2017, p. 559, doi: 10.1126 / science.355.6325.559
- ^ Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: Sea Shepherd Demands that the United States Ban Seafood Imports from New Zealand Fisheries that Are Driving Māui Dolphins to Extinction. February 6, 2019, accessed June 17, 2020 .
- ^ Notification of the Rejection of the Petition To Ban Imports of All Fish and Fish Products From New Zealand That Do Not Satisfy the Marine Mammal Protection Act. July 10, 2019, accessed June 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Sea Shepherd files lawsuit to block New Zealand seafood exports to US in bid to protect Māui dolphin . In: Newshub . ( newshub.co.nz [accessed June 17, 2020]).