#wildlife extinction

[rjzimmerman]

How a Crisis for Vultures Led to a Human Disaster: Half a Million Deaths. (New York Times)

To say that vultures are underappreciated would be putting it mildly. With their diet of carrion and their featherless heads, the birds are often viewed with disgust. But they have long provided a critical cleaning service by devouring the dead.

Now, economists have put an excruciating figure on just how vital they can be: The sudden near-disappearance of vultures in India about two decades ago led to more than half a million excess human deaths over five years, according to a forthcoming study in the American Economic Review.

Rotting livestock carcasses, no longer picked to the bones by vultures, polluted waterways and fed an increase in feral dogs, which can carry rabies. It was “a really huge negative sanitation shock,” said Anant Sudarshan, one of the study’s authors and an economics professor at the University of Warwick in England.

The findings reveal the unintended consequences that can occur from the collapse of wildlife, especially animals known as keystone species for the outsize roles they play in their ecosystems. Increasingly, economists are seeking to measure such impacts.

A study looking at the United States, for example, has suggested that the loss of ash trees to the invasive emerald ash borer increased deaths related to cardiovascular and respiratory illness. And in Wisconsin, researchers found that the presence of wolves reduced vehicle collisions with deer by about a quarter, creating an economic benefit that was 63 times greater than the cost of wolves killing livestock.

“Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning do matter to human beings,” said Eyal Frank, an economist at the University of Chicago and one of the authors of the new vulture study. “And it’s not always the charismatic and fuzzy species.”

[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.

[ferntern]

Thylacine studies from the colorized footage.

[kachavashka]

There's a Banksia woodland nearby where I live. It's almost untouched by humans (no paths, litter, etc, only a few weeds here and there, but not many) and has extremely high biodiversity, characteristic of this ecosystem.

I visited it the other day and sat beneath the glorious, low-lying canopy of Banksia attenuata, and began imagining a thylacine prowling through the bushes looking for bandicoots as they would have done 2000+ years ago here in Noongar country.

[panzerwiesel]

The Island by Walton Ford

[lizardsaredinosaurs]

Since it's close to US election time my only comment will be to share this chart showing the number of species given protection under the Endangered Species Act per year.

Note that giving a species protection helps give it protected habitat and hopefully prevents its extinction.

[creacher-art]

<I’m sorry I never got to meet you>

Plate #1 of my extinction series: Dusky seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens)

Medium: Procreate, mix of synthetic oil and dry paint brushes + custom ink pen

Time: 3.5 hrs

[without-ado]

Grief beyond imagination

Ranger Zacharia Mutai comforts Sudan, the last living male Northern White Rhino on the planet moments before he was euthanised by a vet due to his age-related muscle and bone wasting disease at the Ole Pejeta Wildlife park in Kenya(2018). read more

Sudan, who was named after the country of his birth, died at the age of 45, leaving just two females of his subspecies alive.

[cogumellow]

the dead are all living // edinburgh, uk // june 2024 // ©

[sunnycluster]

last sighted in 1985

The song of the last Kauai O'o was recorded in 1986, singing to a mate that will never come.

Third piece in my feathered ends series

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:

In southern Brazil, especially the state of Rio Grande do Sul, severe flooding has caused an emergency being reported around the world. Human losses and homelessness there represent the biggest socioenvironmental catastrophe affecting the country.

One aspect that hasn’t yet garnered much media attention is the impact of these floods on rare and at-risk wildlife. For 11 years I worked on Marinheiros Island, situated on the estuary of Patos Lagoon in the heart of the now-flooded areas. On this island I identified the presence of three species of small vertebrates threatened with extinction, whose populations there are of great conservation importance.

Patos Lagoon is the most extensive lagoonal system in the world. Within this estuary Marinheiros is the largest island, covering an area of about 62 square kilometers (24 square miles).

Even before the current crisis, over the past few years, Marinheiros has experienced harsh flooding associated with massive rainfall. The floods are even more intense during El Niño phenomena, which produce heavy rain in southern Brazil. Three main factors there, together, result in the rapid rise of estuarine water levels and consequent flooding of the lagoon’s islands and marginal mainland:

The low elevations of marginal areas.

Heavy rains that increase the flow of rivers into the Patos Lagoon system and the subsequent discharge of water in the choked estuary.

Wind directions against the water flow from the estuary to the Atlantic Ocean, acting as a barrier for water discharging into the ocean.

The year 2023 saw a severe flood in Marinheiros Island and the marginal mainland of the Patos Lagoon estuary. This year has been even more calamitous. Flooding of 70% of the municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul — which includes the whole extension of the Patos Lagoon marginal zone — has, as of this writing, caused 149 people to lose their lives and forced more than 615,000 to leave their homes. Many of the more than 1,100 inhabitants of Marinheiros Island were rescued and sent to temporary shelters.

But rescuing the wildlife of Marinheiros Island has not become a priority. Three species deserve to be highlighted due to their very restricted distribution, habitat specificity, and conservation status.

A Toad, a Glass Snake and a Guinea Pig

The tiny red-bellied toad (Melanophryniscus dorsalis) — with a body length about 2 centimeters (just .78 inches) — can be considered a flagship species of Marinheiros Island.

The species’ existence on the island was only discovered in 2006, and it’s the southernmost known population of the species. Red-bellied toads are restricted to the coastal, marshy fields of the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina and are considered threatened both regionally and nationally.

The estuarine glass snake (Ophiodes enso) was described only in 2017, and it is known from only three localities in the estuary of Patos Lagoon, one of which is Marinheiros Island. Like other reptiles commonly known as “glass snakes,” these animals are, in fact, legless lizards.

This species’ conservation status has not yet been officially evaluated by specialists at national and global levels. In the paper on the species description, however, Ophiodes enso is suggested as “critically endangered” given the small area of occurrence and the human-induced impacts on its habitats.

Finally, the greater guinea pig (Cavia magna) is a medium-sized rodent with a body length reaching 30 centimeters (about 1 foot). It lives on the borders of marshes and wet fields of a narrow coastal strip of Uruguay and southern Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina states.

The species is classified as “endangered” in Uruguay and “vulnerable” in Rio Grande do Sul. Importantly, greater guinea pigs from Marinheiros Island are genetically distinct from other populations in terms of the number of chromosomes (individuals from Marinheiros Island have 64 chromosomes, while mainland populations have 62).

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Okay, I know people as a general rule tend to not care about invertebrates as much as cute, fuzzy mammals, but this is a must-read if you care about animal welfare. The short version is that horseshoe crab blood has been used for decades in medicine as a way to test whether something is truly sterile; the blood clots in the presence of bacteria. Since then millions of horseshoe crabs have been captured and drained of blood, even though a synthetic alternative was developed a few years ago.

They go through a pretty brutal experience in the process. They're caught by fishermen who often throw them by their tails into a pile in the open air, and they're then trucked to a bleeding facility where they're strapped down and their blood is removed with needles jabbed directly into their hearts. Over half their blood may be taken, after which they're supposed to be returned to the ocean. However, it's likely many of them never make it back, instead turned into fish bait and sold by the same fishermen who caught them in the first place.

Apart from the fact that this is a horrific thing to put any animal through, the attrition due to fatalities has put a serious dent in horseshoe crab numbers. This is compounded by massive habitat loss, pollution, and the capture of horseshoe crabs as food, particularly as the females of one species are considered a delicacy. And other animals that rely on horseshoe crabs are suffering, too. The American rufa subspecies of the red knot, a medium-sized shorebird, is critically endangered as the horseshoe crab eggs it must have in order to successfully complete migration have become increasingly scarce, and it is likely the bird will become extinct if trends continue.

While there are guidelines for medical horseshoe crab harvest, they're considered optional. The few laws that exist are poorly enforced. Short of a complete ban on horseshoe crab blood in favor of the synthetic alternative, these animals are in very real danger of going extinct after a history spanning over 400 million years on this planet.

Thankfully, this article is not the first to bring forth the issues surrounding horseshoe crab harvest. Here are a few resources for further information and action (US based, though horseshoe crabs are threatened throughout their entire range):

Horseshoe Crab Conservation Network - https://horseshoecrab.org/conservation/

Wetlands Institute - https://wetlandsinstitute.org/conservation/horseshoe-crab-conservation/

Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition - https://hscrabrecovery.org/

[bjekkergauken]

Yangtze spirits

[rinusuarez]

Introducing an updated illustrated poster featuring all the tigers of the world! While it was once believed that there were nine subspecies of tigers, recent scientific research has shown that there are actually only two: those that live on the continent and those that reside on islands. However, within these two subspecies, there are various populations of tigers that were previously classified as distinct subspecies. Creating this poster was a labor of love that required a significant amount of time and effort. Some of the animals featured on the poster were particularly challenging to illustrate due to their extinction, which meant there was limited photographic evidence available to use as a reference. I am thrilled with the final product and hope that others will appreciate the attention to detail and care that went into each illustration. If you are interested in buying this art print, please click here Thank you for your support

[manusuchus]

Tasmania , just a blink of an eye ago

September 7th, 1936. The last captive thylacine, a male nicknamed "Benjamin", died from unknown reasons at the Hobart´s Beaumaris Zoo.

Two months later, thylacines became a legally protected species.

In 1982, park ranger Hans Naarding was surveying in north-west Tasmania when he stood for several minutes with his torchlight fixed on a thylacine. It is the last credible sighting of the animal in the wild.

That same year, the IUCN declared the Thylacine, commonly known as the "Tasmanian tiger", officially extinct.

Photos, videos and sightings have been regular since then, none really worthy of consideration as late evidence of the species' late survival.

Companies of questionable morality have promised to bring the species back from extinction through cloning and genetic engineering.

But the thylacine is gone forever. That's the hard truth.

We can try to convince ourselves that somewhere, hidden and far away from humans, they are still alive. We can try to convince ourselves that our advanced technology will reverse the mistakes of the past and change the natural order.

But the thylacine is gone, and that will not change.

This sad story leaves us with an important lesson: We must put all our efforts and resources into conserving the species that remain in our world.

May the Thylacine always remain an eternal reminder of what extinction means.

[ornithologyorthodoxy]

8/10/24