The most endangered and uncommon marine animal on the globe may cease to exist in four years if efforts to save it aren't ramped up, Fox News reported.
Vaquitas, rare porpoises that swim off the coast of Mexico, have been turning up dead in huge groups after they got caught in fishermen's illegal nets. It's recently been discovered that government agencies aren't doing much to protect the animals either. The mammal has a small face with very distinct features.
"They look like they're wearing dark lipstick and mascara," said Rebecca Lent, executive director of the Marine Mammal Commission, an independent federal agency that is trying to protect marine mammals and save them from extinction.
The vaquita is only about 4 to 5 feet in length, and is usually hard to see as it swims by.
"These vaquita porpoises are very shy. They hardly ever appear," Lent said. "Most of the ones we have are ones that came up dead in fishing nets."
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the animal is on the critically endangered list. A July 2014 report detailing the porpoise's acoustic communication calls found that fewer than 100 of them are still alive in the wild. It has a baby once every other year.
Poachers use boats to hunt for an endangered fish called totoaba, which is valuable in China because they use its swim bladder for medicine. The vaquita gets stuck in nets used to catch the fish, which is the main cause of their rapid drop in population, Discovery News reported.
"It's essentially a wall across the environment," said Peter Thomas, International and Policy Program director for the Marine Mammal Commission "It's not visible to the vaquita."
Lent said that to allow the creature to stay on earth, the area where they live should be protected by patrol ships. Government agencies also should reinforce the importance of safe fishing and enact penalties against pachers.
