The difference a day makes

[andrewducker]

via my brother Mike on email.

Comments

[buddleia]

Gutting. GUTTING.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

:(

I went to the Royal Museum not long after the Baji had been declared functionally extinct, and in the "endangered animals" section where it once was was an empty space and a sign saying "This exhibit has been removed"

It was so sad

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

Other sad things: There's so few Right Whales left that researchers have named them all

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Um ... it depends on which Right Whale you mean.

The Southern Right Whale is doing pretty well - the IUCN figures show about 3,200 individuals, and growing well, putting it in the 'Least Concern' category. Later estimates are even higher, like 10,000 or so.

But at the other end of the scale, IUCN says only about 500 left of each of the North Atlantic Right Whale and the North Pacific Right Whale, making them 'Endangered'. It's really very gloomy for the Northeast Pacific subpopulation, they guess less than 50, and worryingly few calves, making it 'Critically Endangered', which is the Last Chance Saloon before joining Lonesome George and the dodo.

http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/8153/0
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/41711/0
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/41711/0

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

Ummmm I would have clarified but I got distracted trying to find the story of how they rediscovered that massive insect they thought extinct, on a tiny island off the coast of New Zealand. I think? Have a search for that, it's a great story if you can find it. (the Right Whale anecdote was half remembered from a Marine Bio lecture 12 years ago)

Tree Lobster!

[0olong.livejournal.com]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years

Re: Tree Lobster!

[0olong.livejournal.com]

(it really is a wonderful story)

Re: Tree Lobster!

[pigwotflies.livejournal.com]

I've just watched the 6 minute video of one hatching out. It's fascinating! Such cool insects.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

Ditto the Kakapo (which I know you know about) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kakapo :(

And if we're going for sad, there's this: http://earthsky.org/earth/52-hertz-song-of-worlds-loneliest-whale

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

George didn't do enough screwing, that was the problem!

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't that be "George's grandparents (& farther back) didn't do enough screwing..."? I suspect that George got enough food & water, and reasonably comfortable temperatures, and probably enough opportunites to screw (regardless of whether or not the results were productive ... and I kinda doubt that tortoises give a damn about that, or are even able to comprehend the idea) to consider that he had A Good Life.

If the Homo sapiens (alba, male, old-geezer?) scientists who developed the "subspecies" concept are unhappy... well... as the last surviving member of the Emil Schachenman family (at the age of 83, unlikely to pocreate), my comment is on the order of "Yeah, that kind of thing happens".

[innerbrat]

subspecies. Not that it matters.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Like pretty much everyone who has been to Galapagos I saw George in his enclosure. He was at the end of the day just another giant tortoise, yet he somehow became a whole lot more than that. He became a symbol of the struggle not just to protect Galapagos, but for the whole conservation movement. It's a bit of a surprise he is dead as 100 is young for a giant tortoise, but it looks like the last of the Pinta tortoises has ceased to be.

[pigwotflies.livejournal.com]

:( Farewell Lonesome George. We shall not see your like again.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

What's the conservation status for humans?

If we didn't think of ourselves as special I'm sure there would be culls.