illustration: the vaquita

Today is a very important day, and do you know why? Because today is “International Save the Vaquita Day”! If you haven’t heard of, or seen the Vaquita before, then I have to introduce you to the truly magnificent creature.

The Vaquita is a rare species of Porpoise (“The term ‘porpoise’ is derived from the Latin porcus for ‘pig’ and piscus for ‘fish’. Porpoises are quite distinct from other species of cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises). They are generally found close to the coast, they are smaller in size, have smaller flippers, no prominent beak and their teeth are laterally compressed to form a cutting edge.”).

Their name translates into ‘little cow’ in Spanish, and they are born the size of a loaf of bread. They reach their maturity between 3-6 years old, and grow up to 1.5m long, and are known to live up to 21 years of age.

So, why am I writing about the Vaquita today, and why are they so important? Well, there are currently just 97 of them remaining in the wild. Due to threats from accidental catches from fishing and lack of fresh water, the Vaquita’s population has dramatically declined over recent years, and left them critically endangered.

However, luckily there is still hope for the creature. As there are over 50 of them remaining, there are still opportunities for breeding programmes to begin so that their numbers can begin to grow. However all of our collective help is needed. As the threat facing the Vaquita is still relatively unknown, it’s crucial that we help to raise awareness for the species.

So today, if you can quickly sign Greenpeace’s petition to help the Vaquita, you would be doing a great thing for the mammal and the planet:

https://act.greenpeace.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1852&ea.campaign.id=38572&ea.tracking.id=planet3&source=openspace&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_term=vaquita%20day,vaquita,petition&utm_campaign=Oceans&__surl__=Igtkt&__ots__=1436618880872&__step__=1

You can also read more about the Vaquita here, and learn what else you can to to help them here.

I created an illustration of one to show you what they look like – it’s incredibly hard to find an image of one that’s alive online. I hope you like it!

So today, lets all do what we can to help the Vaquita!

I hope you have a great weekend.