This weekend I am on vacation in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. While exploring the famous lighthouse, we found a gift shop that contained many ocean-related objects. When I was checking out the books, I was astonished when I found the “Whales and Dolphins Coloring Book” by John Green. I immediately recognized the book (because of my past internet research) as one of the only in the world that contains the Vaquita. This book was published in 1990, before the Vaquita’s appearance was well-known. To give you a feeling of how much we have learned about the Vaquita in the last 20 or so years, here is what the Vaquita’s coloring page looks like:

And here is their example of the Vaquita:

They didn’t even know that the Vaquita had eye- and mouth-patches, as well as the chin-to-flipper stripe and a triangular dorsal fin. The Vaquita was discovered in 1958 from a few skulls, and first seen in 1985. We still have so much to learn, but it will not be possible to learn anything if we lose them now.