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University of St. Andrews Communications Office
There are only between six and 19 vaquitas left, a new study has concluded, and, unless swift action is taken, the endangered species could go extinct within a year.
The world’s smallest porpoises, found only in Mexico’s Gulf of California, are threatened because they are caught by mistake in illegal gillnets. The study, published in Royal Society Open Science Wednesday, found that 10 had died this way from March 2016 to March 2019.
“Every day wasted is making a difference. The key thing is that we need action now,” study co-author Len Thomas, an ecological statistician at the University of St. Andrews’ Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, told Vice. “There are only days to do this.”