River Ecology to Be Altered by Dam but Chinese Officials Say That Demands Must Be Placed on Nature to Serve the Needs of Society Series: TROUBLE ON THE YANGTZE RIVER. Last in a Series. Part 1 Appeared on July 18, Part 2 on July 22

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FROM deep inside a darkened tank streaked black with mildew, a sound floats upward like a soft whisper.

Inside, "Qiqi," (pronounced chi-chi), the only Yangtze River dolphin in captivity, exhales through his blowhole and waves his long beak, pacing his shallow home with sonar as he has done for 11 years.

To the few Chinese scientists trying to save the species from extinction, Qiqi's breath sounds more like a sigh every day.

China's leadership next month will consider building a dam on the Yangtze that would hasten the steady drift of the river dolphin toward extinction.

The Yangtze dolphin population has shrunk by a third since the International …