Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

[thalassa]

This is the cutest animal you've probably never heard of.




Meet the vaquita. Its babies are the size of a loaf of bread.

It will likely be extinct in a few years.

There are 97 left.

Your grandchildren won't even know they ever existed.

[thalassa]

Re: Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

Meet the Northern White Rhino.


There are 5 world wide, and only one (elderly for rhinos) male.

He requires a 4 man guard that had to remove his horn to protect him from poachers.

[thalassa]

Re: Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

This is my favorite sea turtle.



In just 35 years, the number of nesting females has declined from 115,000 to 35,000.

Like other sea turtle species, they are at risk from poaching for egg and meat consumption, the destruction of nesting sites from beachfront development, disorientation of hatchlings from the artificial lighting created by those developments, and accidental capture by commercial fisherman (among other things).


The one thing that can help is dedicated volunteers to nest sit, relocate at risk nests, and help corral the babies to the sea. If you live in a warm water coastal area, this is often something the whole family can take part in.


This guy is my favorite, but all of the sea turtle species are endangered (the most endangered sea turtle is actually the Kemp's Ridley which has only 7-9.000 nesting females).

https://[video=youtube;afgsYchpD_Q]h...?v=afgsYchpD_Q[/video]

To give you some perspective of the population decline, this is what the mass nesting of the Kemps Ridley mentioned in the video from 1947:

[thalassa]

Re: Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

This is the last wild horse species.

They were extinct in the wild, but were able (from captive populations) to be reintroduced to Mongolia, Russia, China, and even Hungary.

And the P-horse conservation work here at the Smithsonian. (the video is awesome....I want to be that woman)

[Medusa]

Re: Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

Don't feel too bad.
Five animals back from the brink of extinction:
Grey Wolf
American Alligator
Grizzly Bear
Peregrine Falcon
Whooping crane

So. There's hope!

[thalassa]

Re: Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

Don't feel too bad.
Five animals back from the brink of extinction:
Grey Wolf
American Alligator
Grizzly Bear
Peregrine Falcon
Whooping crane

So. There's hope!

There are some others too...Ithe polar bear is a mixed bag (depends on the region and subspecies), the gray seal...

Unfortunately, the diminishing species outnumber the increasing ones. In a way, I find it very interesting. We've basically put life in a blender (by moving species around), set up huge constrictions on its survival (habitat degradation), and now we just have to wait and see. On the other hand, its horribly depressing.

Because lets face it, the vaquita is cute.

Its babies are little bread loaf sized dolphins.

You can't get cuter than mini dolphins.


(Makes me feel bad for this guy, just discovered and already just about wiped out...he doesn't even have a common name!)

[anunitu]

Re: Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

Then you have this...Panic attack concerning extinction,maybe a bit overblown?...who knows.

Earth is on track for a mass extinction, and humans are to blame, study says.

http://www.latimes.com/science/scien...619-story.html


Wake up call?...or even last call.....

[neráida]

Re: Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

What about the passenger pigeon?

There used to be billions of them in a single flock.

[ancienttrees]

Re: Gone the way of the dodo--Welcome to the Anthropocine

The Otter in the UK was nearly extinct, and was brought back by banning hunting them, control of farming pesticides. around water courses and breeding.