MADRID, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - Experts at Spain's environment ministry have appealed for help abroad to track a potentially deadly virus that threatens a species of dolphins in the Mediterranean.

The morbillivirus, which causes measles in its human form, has been found in several striped dolphins washed up dead on beaches in Spain in recent weeks, said a ministry statement.

SHANGHAI, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - A creature believed to be the rare Chinese white dolphin has been sighted in the Yangtze river, an expert said Wednesday, renewing hope for a mammal recently declared as probably extinct.

Video footage by a resident of eastern Anhui province purportedly taken this month appears to show the critically endangered white dolphin, known in China as the 'baiji', frolicking in its native Yangtze habitat, said Wang Ding, one of the world's leading authorities on the species.

SHANGHAI, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - There could be new hope for China's white dolphin, which scientists recently said was probably extinct, after one was filmed this month in the Yangtze river, state media reported Wednesday.

A resident of eastern Anhui province said he filmed the rare mammal, easily identifiable by its long, tooth-filled snout and low dorsal, along the banks of China's longest river on August 19, Xinhua news agency reported.

The creature in the footage has been confirmed by an expert as one of the dolphins, known as the 'baiji' in China, it said.

SHANGHAI, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - China's rapid industrialisation has likely made extinct a species of fresh water dolphin that had been on Earth for over 20 million years, Chinese and British biologists said Wednesday.

Scientists from China, Japan, Britain and the United States failed to find the white dolphin, known as the baiji, during a six-week search of its natural habitat in the Yangtze river last year.

'This result means the baiji is likely extinct,' Wang Ding, who led the survey and is one of the world's leading experts on the species, told AFP.

SHANGHAI, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - China's rapid industrialisation has likely made extinct a species of fresh water dolphin that had been on Earth for over 20 million years, a marine biologist said Wednesday.

A team of scientists from China, Japan and the United States failed to find the white dolphin, known as the baiji, during a six-week search of its natural habitat in the Yangtze river late last year.

'This result means the baiji is likely extinct,' Wang Ding, who led the survey and is one of the world's leading experts on the species, told AFP.