A new report has warned that the number of Yangtze finless porpoises has dropped to just 1,000 in the country's longest river - less than half of what there were in 2006 - making the species even rarer than the wild giant panda.

The 2012 Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Survey Report, released in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Thursday, said that the endangered species is now declining by 13.7 percent a year, compared with 5 percent six years ago.

It blamed the decline in the mammal's numbers on food shortages and human disturbances, such as increased shipping traffic.