#extinction of species

[soulmates-for-real-tranquility]

"He is the last male of the species singing for a female...who will never come. He is totally alone. And now his voice is gone"

The Last Song of the Kauai O'o Bird

Male singing to female that will never come

These birds mate for life. The song is a duet. The silences between the chirps are so heartbreaking!

[ask-a-bot]

Things live and die, sometimes species go extinct. It's not all Megs' fault.

Enough of it is.

Sunstreaker. He's not the only one to blame, and from what you told us about the history of things, he was trying to make it better.

If he hadn't started the war, Cybertron would still be lit! There would still be hotspots and newsparks and the Allspark would still exist! Our home would still exist! We wouldn't be stuck on this dirtball and Sides wouldn't be-

That's enough. It's not all Megatron's fault things went the way they did. Fault on both sides, it takes two hands to clap, two factions to war. If nothing changed, would you really have been happy in the old system?

I would still have my brother. We were climbing up in the world, creating a home that was ours. Until the Docks bombing sent us back to the Pit.

And Megatron blames himself enough. Come on, I'm sure Pyre would appreciate us getting a headstart on your nice long drive and quiet time before he gets home.

Sunstreaker is right. I made everything so much worse that the planet has likely been destroyed. I wanted to... to make everything better. I made everything worse. I am no better than Mandroid!

What? That's not true!

He told me that he saw himself as the saviour of Earth and humanity, Prime. He had the same delusions of grandeur that I did.

Mandroid... was not like you, Megatron. Even at your worst, you were never beyond reason. I could make you listen. Mandroid was not like you. Stop thinking like that.

[reasonsforhope]

"During an archaeological dig in a desert area north of Jerusalem 40 years ago, a seed was discovered which was determined to be in pristine condition but had obviously seen many a year.

Now, despite falling from its parent 1,000 years ago, it has grown into a mature tree, and botanists examining it believe it may be an extinct species that was used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years—even receiving a nod in the Bible.

Neither Israeli botanists, nor Dr. Sarah Sallon, a physician who founded the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, could determine what species it was from simply from the seed covering. So they did what nature intended—they planted it.

Using a well-documented technique that saw 2,000-year-old date palm fruit pits germinate, Dr. Sallon soaked the seed in hormones, liquid fertilizer, and water, and then planted it in a pot of sterile seed; then waited.

Despite its genetic code being exposed to environmental stressors for over 1,000 years, the seed sprouted after 5 weeks. The shoot was protected by a caplike feature called an operculum. As the shoot grew, the operculum was shed—leaving something for the team to radiocarbon date. It narrowed down the age of the almost 10-centuries-old seed to between the years 993 an 1202.

Fast forward 14 years and the plant has become a 10-foot-tall tree. Dr. Sallon shared images of the tree, its bark, and its leaves with botanists around the world. One expert suggested it belonged to the genus Commiphora, found across the Arabian Peninsula and parts of Africa. A genetic analysis subsequently revealed this was the case, but a perfect match was lacking.

Pictured: The tree, now 14 years old.

Dr. Sallon and her team thought it was an extinct species known from history as Judean Balsam, but the best way to confirm that suspicion would be to have some aromatic traces similar to the resins of the myrrh tree to which it is related. However, no such fragrant compounds were detected.

Instead, the chemical analysis of the leaves identified a group of phytochemicals known as guggulterols which have been observed in a related species called Commiphora wightii that’s known to possess certain cancer-fighting properties in its resin.

A medicinal balm, the origin of which is not known, is mentioned in multiple historical texts including the Bible as ‘tsori,’ and rather than the fragrant Judean Balsam, it’s this tsori that Dr. Sallon and her team believe they have found.

They must wait until the tree, now 14 years old, produces flower or fruit to know for sure if it’s an extinct species, and if so, how to perhaps keep it alive.

Dr. Louise Colville, senior research leader in seed and stress biology at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London who wasn’t involved in the research, told CNN that it was a major accomplishment to grow a seed that old and possibly lead to a resurrection of this Biblical botanical.

“What’s surprising in this story is it was just a single seed and to be able to have one chance for that to germinate is extremely lucky,” she said.

“Working in a seed bank, seeing the potential for that extreme longevity gives us hope that banking and storing seeds that some at least will survive for very long periods of time.”"

-via Good News Network, October 8, 2024

--

Note: This is such a good demonstration of why seed banks are so important!! They give us such real and massive hope for deextinction and the revival of endangered species.

[despazito]

Honestly? i'm kinda glad China is so protectionist over their pandas. Dominica entrusted their national bird, the critically endangered Sisserou (Imperial Amazon), to a German-based "conservation" organization (It's essentially a glorified private aviary that covertly trafficks rare parrots) that's now refusing to repatriate the animals back to their rightful homes and is still illegally exporting birds from Dominica to Germany as recently as 2018 despite outcries from both local and international experts. Many of the OG zoos were stocked via colonial conquest and now the western hegemon that's responsible for so many of these species' decline also imposes itself as the stewards of their recovery. we have to collaborate with and respect the people who share an ecosystem with the animals we love, without local support recovery programs will not thrive.

[kavdragun]

Many boys desire a big dinosaur GF, but others have even bigger ambitions!

Let there be more dino women!

[hope-for-the-planet]

I need you all to appreciate how crazy it is to have watched the scimitar horned oryx go from a poster child for "it only exists in zoos" to merely endangered (not even critically endangered!) over my lifetime.

So many heroic people contributed ridiculous amounts of time and effort to make this captive breeding and reintroduction effort a success.

[odetoscavengers]

Something that could have been

[unita-n]

My old piece with quaggas.

watercolour on wallpaper back

[rebeccathenaturalist]

A study that just came out demonstrates that outdoor cats are known to prey on over two thousands species of wild animal, from mammals to birds to insects. That includes 347 species that are endangered, threatened or otherwise of concern, and they've been a key factor of the permanent extinction of over 60 species. And while cats may not always bring home what they catch, chances are if your cat is allowed to roam unsupervised outside, they're killing your local wildlife.

Why is this so important? Worldwide, wild animal populations have decreased in number by 69% in the past fifty years; that means that in my lifetime (born in 1978), the sheer number of wild animals in the world has been decreased by over half. Even "common" wild species are less numerous than before. While habitat population is the single biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction overall, outdoor and indoor/outdoor cats are a significant cause as well. In fact, they are the single biggest cause of human-caused mortality in wild birds.

Most importantly, it's very, very simple to fix this problem: keep your cats indoors, and spay and neuter them. If your cat is bored, they need more enrichment, and there are plenty of ways to make your home more exciting for them, from bringing home cardboard boxes for them to explore, to playing with them more often. If you want your cat to get some outdoor enrichment, leash train them (yes, it can be done!) If you have the space and resources, build them a catio where they can be safe from outdoor dangers like predators and cars, while also keeping local wildlife safe from them.

If you just give into their whining and pawing at the door, then they know that that's what they have to do to get their way; I know it's a tough transition, but it's worth it in the end for everyone involved. Cats are domesticated, which means they are not native anywhere in the world; there are exactly zero ecosystems in which they belong, save for the safety of your home. It is your responsibility to give them an enriching environment without taking the shortcut of letting them go wreak havoc outside.

[wachinyeya]

Chel snakehead (also known as Channa amphibious)

​A rare fish species thought to be extinct for 85 tears was just rediscovered in India. The last sighting of the Chel snakehead (also known as Channa amphibious) was recorded from specimens collected between 1918 and 1933 in the Himalayan region of India, leading scientists to believe the species had died out. “Commonly known as the Chel Snakehead, this large and vibrant species is distinguished by chrome-yellow to orange stripes, a bright neon patch beneath the eye, and the highest number of lateral-line scales among all snakeheads of the Gachua group,” says Thackeray Wildlife Foundation.

[ask-a-bot]

Cybertron was destroyed by the war. I doubt anything could have survived. Humans have rediscovered extinct animals in the past because those animals were good at hiding or came from places that were hard to study. ... Megatron used to use words to manipulate people all the time, but he used that skill to hurt people. Pyreseus said that sometimes it can be used to comfort, distract or teach.

Knowing how to speak and using it to manipulate others for your own gain are two separate things, Thrash. Megs has changed since the war, he seems to really care about Twitch, which is good. You don't manipulate the people you care about.

You're supposed to be resting.

I'm in pain, as usual, not dying. Come on, let's go for a walk.

Pyreseus told you to stay put.

I'm also bored, and I have my braces on. Coming or not, I'm going for a walk. I'll deal with the fallout after.

You're worse than Megatron. Get in, I'll drive.

Hey, I've had a crap body long enough to create workarounds and power through with sheer force of will, cut him some slack.

Good thing Prime's taken Megatron to calm down ready for a quick afternoon siesta, because... well... I don't think either one of 'em would've taken that too well. What's Thrash been saying?

We don't know yet if Cybertron's completely gone or not. We haven't been able to get through to Home World, but that could be because energy is still an issue while life gradually returns to normal.

Some plants 'n' creatures went extinct when I was younger than Hot Rod. Other things were tough enough to thrive 'n' spread over the parts we destroyed. Who knows how much of the planet I remember's gonna be left, even if its not completely dead. I'm a little scared to find out.

From what he's said, Megatron is too. But he needs to know. He feels like he's entirely to blame for every lost species and extinguished spark. He needs to know. Because of that. He wants to know how much he has to hate himself for, I guess.

[seraphica]

Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons

Artist Laurel Roth Hope takes a unique approach to commemorating lost avian species, by designing and crocheting outfits that represent extinct birds, but are sized to fit a common city pigeon.

Seychelles Parakeet

Great Auk

Passenger Pigeon

Guadalupe Caracara

Carolina Parakeet

Dodo

Bachman's Warbler

Heath Hens

Cuban Red Macaw

Ivory Billed Woodpecker

Paradise Parrot

[kedreeva]

In case you haven't heard yet, Colossal, the biotech company that earlier this year showed off their "woolly mouse," has announced that they de-extincted "dire wolves." I put this in quotes, because just like with the mice, they didn't truly bring them back (nothing can actually do that, yet) or even really make them.

What they actually did was kind of neat; they copied genes sequenced from dire wolf DNA and inserted them into the grey wolf genome (replacing grey wolf DNA, as they said gray wolves shared a significant percentage of their genome (which isn't saying a TON considering how much the human and chimp genome have in common without being nearly the same animals, but it's better than taking, say, a turtle's genome or something else super unrelated), to create a wolf with genes that dire wolves had.

And while that's not really the same thing as building a dire wolf completely from scratch, so to speak, and it's not really "cloning" them either, it's still pretty cool science, and just like with the woolly mouse, the work (ie, altering/editing multiple genes at once from sequenced DNA of deceased individuals) COULD apply to conservation of actual species (for example, having the ability to widen the genome of remaining breeding individuals of an endangered species, with DNA from deceased individuals). I'm not sure if it IS applying to other species right now (at least not through this company, despite their stated claims to want to), but it is one of their stated goals and it would work.

Also, they're pretty cute

As they were born in October 2024, they now have their own 2,000 acre reserve where Colossal is monitoring them closely. There are two males and one female, but as they've stated they do not have plans to breed them, I'm not sure where the female is being kept in relation to the males, but I suspect she's the solo-wolf pictured, vs the pics of the pair.

Anyway, that's all happening.

[squeeegs]

text from porter robinson's "goodbye to a world"

every single animal in this comic is extinct. it's not too late for the ones that are left.

edit: thanks @mudcrabmassacre for the correction, smilodon fatalis did not in fact go extinct in 1023 AD. the actual prediction is around 10,000 years ago - I think i may have missed a zero or two.

[blaire-beast]

Two dire wolves

+closeups

[lazer-t]

Great Auk for a $15 Ko-fi supporter

The Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) is also known as the Penguin. Though the name is contemporarily associated with an unrelated group of flightless birds from the southern hermisphere, these were named penguins by european explorers due to their superficial similarity to the Great Auks they were already familiar with. The Great Auk became extinct in the mid 19th century, and its extinction is believed to have been primarily caused by human exploitation. (x, x, x)