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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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[Below is the original script. But a few changes may have been made during the recording of this audio podcast.]
The vaquita, the world's smallest porpoise, lives in Mexico's Gulf of California. Or rather, only about 200 do. Most have been lost to fishing lines.
The Hainan gibbon once ruled its Chinese island. Now, thanks to deforestation, just 29 remain.
These are examples of mammals at risk. An exhaustive survey of the 5,487 identified species of mammals—which includes us—reveals that one in four are dying out.
From amphibians to corals, the planet’s animals are disappearing, mowed under by increasing cropland, felled forests and polluted oceans.
It’s been dubbed the sixth extinction because it may be the sixth time that the Earth has experienced a mass loss of species. And it’s the subject of the International Union for Conservation of Nature conference happening this week.
But the news isn't all grim. The Hainan gibbon survives because of concerted work to save it. And the black-footed ferret of North America is reconquering its native range with the help of the U.S. government.
Such focused conservation efforts—and cash—are needed to save our animals.
If the loss of one quarter of our economy provokes the mother of all financial bailouts, perhaps the loss of one quarter of our closest relatives merits the same action.
—David Biello
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10 Comments
Add CommentSo 50% of mammal species are in decline, 45% are holding, and 5% are on the rise.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the question we need to be asking ourselves is, how do we accomplish a Noah's Ark?
I'd wager our disdain for the natural world gets worse before it gets better, but at some point, probably when it's too late, it will get better. At that point, might it be good to have a genetic backup to reintroduce species? It'd be chaos trying to recreate an ecosystem like that, but surely some would take hold, and some would be better than none... I dunno.
What a repugnant lot humans turned out to be.
It is our selfishness as a species that is driving other species to extinction. The idea that we have dominion over all other species also implies that we are responsible for them. We will continue to reproduce until we exterminate most other species, then some day, we will realize that we were dependent on our extinct partners, and we will go down the slow road to extinction ourselves. If we do manage to settle other planets, it will only delay the process.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAny way,It has happened,so let's look forward,OK?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStop complaining and blaming.
It's a tough task,it needs the joint work of scientists and economists ,but i deny the environmentalists.
How many species have been created in the same time period? That seems to have been ignored. Man's mobility has introduced species that otherwise wouldn't have mixed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDavid made a good point. The KEY word is "relatives". All living things on Earth are our relatives. Now start thinking!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo doubt humans are responsible for wiping out other species from their habitats. This act is like cutting the trunk of a tree on which we are sitting! But, at the same time it should me rememberd that the same humans, may be a small fraction of them, are attempting to save the fellow species. Let's hope that the population of such humans will go up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo doubt humans are responsible for wiping out other species from their habitats. This act is like cutting the trunk of a tree on which we are sitting! But, at the same time it should me rememberd that the same humans, may be a small fraction of them, are attempting to save the fellow species. Let's hope that the population of such humans will go up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo doubt humans are responsible for wiping out other species from their habitats. This act is like cutting the trunk of a tree on which we are sitting! But, at the same time it should me rememberd that the same humans, may be a small fraction of them, are attempting to save the fellow species. Let's hope that the population of such humans will go up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is why we have a large brain: To figure out how to live together, not expanding in numbers, but ind wisdom, and to care for all the magic of the world. Not easy, but not imposible.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBlack Footed Ferret. Burrowing Bettong or Woylie. There seems to be hope for the little ferret you say, and I hope it may be true. But I'd like to make you aware of some fairly recent disquieting news about 'saving from extinction'. In the South West of Western Australia, part of a land which is the site of more modern extinctions than anywhere else (we are lead to believe), the story of the Woylie is worth a thought. The Woylie is a small, marsupial with endearing habits, such as carrying sticks for its nest with a prehensile tail, and digging fro mushrooms. Its about as big as a big man's hand. Populations existed from Cape Leeuwin on the West, to the Coast of New South Wales, a range of 4/5000 kilometres.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHabitat depletion and introduced predators took enough for the Woylie to be listed endangered. Over the last few years, ardent workers in the southern nature reserves (Manjimup) were able to create an environment in which the little animal could safely rebuild its numbers. Even to the extent of being able to be taken from the critical list. Then, bang, catastrophe. For some reason, as yet not fully understood, [maybe some subtle relationship between the animal and its range, now drastically reduced] over 90% of the precious, intelligently monitored, carefully guarded population went and died. Just like that. Read the story in better places than this brief comment, and reflect, maybe it really is too late, despite our utmost best efforts.
Anna Pembroke,
Secretary, Environment Committee, United Nations Association, Western Australia