[4] This small toothed whale faces many of the same threats as the baiji: high human activity on the Yangtze, such as illegal fishing, pollution, boat traffic, and dam construction.

Due to the rapidly declining population of the species, the Chinese government and conservation charities are working to help save it from extinction.

"river piglet") A finless porpoise can grow up to 2.27 m (7 ft 5+1⁄2 in) in length and weigh up to 71.8 kg (158+1⁄4 lb), however, most are smaller than this.

[7] Body color and dorsal ridge sizes vary depending on the geographical location of the finless porpoise.

[8] The amount of rows of tubercles and dorsal ridge sizes vary depending on the species and location of the porpoise.

They tend to be found in shallow bay areas, swamps, and estuaries year round as they are not a migratory species.

Among the fishes in their diet, the most common are Coilia brachygnathus, Pseudobrama simoni, Pelteobagrus nitidus, and Hemiculter bleekeri.

Rather than communicating through whistles, as most dolphin species do, these porpoises use echolocation and ultrasonic pulses [10] After the functional extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin and the rapid decreasing of population, the Chinese government has given this species the utmost conservation status of National First Grade Key Protected Wild Animal to ensure its survival.

However, the population decrease is accelerating due to lack of food, pollution, and ship movement, and the species has a high chance (86.06%) of becoming extinct within the next 100 years.

If spectra levels in the water surpass the underwater acoustic thresholds for the porpoise, their chance of survival is greatly threatened.

[12] Global conservation agencies and charities, such as the World Wildlife Fund and IUCN, have been collaborating with the Chinese government to ensure the survival of the species.

The preferred habitat of the Yangtze Finless Porpoise overlaps extensively with the usage of gillnets, which makes the species particularly vulnerable to entanglement and subsequent drowning.

[13] Widespread sand mining of the river and lake beds and banks has destroyed important habitats for porpoises and food items, as well as other environmental issues.

[14] There are currently 400 million people living along the river basin as well as thousands of factories, which together discharge tremendous quantities of domestic sewage and agricultural and industrial waste.

[19] Due to ongoing protection efforts, the porpoises have reappeared in places like Nantong,[20] where sightings had been rare in recent years.

A majority of factors of this population decline are being driven by the massive growth in Chinese industry since 1990 which caused increased shipping and pollution and ultimately environmental degradation.

The reserve, which is sponsored by the Chinese government, World Wildlife Fund, the Coca-Cola Company, and others, increased its porpoise population from five to forty in twenty-five years.

[22][23] The Chinese Academy of Science's Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology has been working with the World Wildlife Fund to ensure the future for this subspecies, and have placed five porpoises in another well-protected area, the He-wang-miao oxbow.