PHOTO RAISES HOPES FOR SURVIVAL OF THE 'GODDESS OF THE YANGTZE'

The baiji is believed to be extinct, but some observers claim to have sighted the freshwater mammal as recently as last month, as Luan Xiang reports for Xinhua China Features.

More than a decade has passed since the baiji was declared "functionally extinct."

Yet a recent image believed to show the long-missing "Goddess of the Yangtze River" has sparked hopes for the mammal's reappearance as Asia's longest waterway recovers its ecological vitality.