Anthropogenic Extinction

Cool things we made not exist anymore.

[animalsandtrees]

The year: 2014

"Bodyguards protect one of the six remaining last standing Northern White Rhinos."

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Six.

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Sorry, I have been swamped with real-life stuff!

But here is an article on a favourite subject of mine: de-extinction, and the ethical questions (people seem to think) it raises.

http://io9.com/should-we-try-to-resurrect-extinct-species-1566537410

I would argue that if we can bring back a species that we ourselves drove to extinction (or in the case of things like Pleistocene megafauna, at least probably played a major role in it), there really isn't much of an ethical question.

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For your consideration

http://animals.io9.com/orca-welfare-bill-delayed-for-further-study-1561540749/+charliejane

http://io9.com/did-blackfish-make-you-rethink-that-childhood-trip-to-s-1556404654

[lostbeasts]

Great Auk. This was the largest known alcid (related to puffins and razorbills), and the only one known to be flightless. It was 30-33in tall and weighed around 11lb. During summer they developed a white patch in front of each eye, which was replaced in winter with a white band. Great auk pairs were monogamous, and bred in very dense social colonies, brooding one egg each year and both caring for their chick after it had left the nest site. The great auk was pressured by hunting for 100,000 years. By the mid-16th Century the European populations had all but been destroyed for their down, and as a food and bait source. By the time scientists realised the great auk was becoming increasingly vulnerable, it was too late. Museums and private collectors sought after their eggs and skins, further depleting their numbers. The last remaining pair of great auks were killed on 3rd July 1844, off the coast of Iceland.

[chongqingexpressions]

Graveyard in Beijing honors extinct animals

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Every year on Tomb Sweeping Day, 53-year-old Ben Guo presents flowers as offerings to the dead at the World Extinct Wildlife Cemetery, which he established in 1999 to pay respect to extinct animals.

The cemetery is located in the Daxing district’s Beijing Nanhaizi Milu Park and consists of 100 tombstones lined up along a kilometer-long road. While no animals are buried beneath, each stone details the names of animals and dates of their extinction—a Jamaican rice rat in 1880 and passenger pigeon in 1914 are some examples, according to China Daily.

"Dead relatives and ancestors should not be the only ones honored on Tomb Sweeping Day. The animals also deserve to be remembered because they are our friends," said Guo.

Guo said he aligned the tombstones like dominos to illustrate how one animal’s extinction affects other species. Some of the tombstones are engraved with the names of endangered animals. 

[flowisaconstruct-deactivated202]

"Artist Todd McGrain memorializes species long-vanished, due to human impact on their habitats, in his "Lost Bird Project"

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/bronze-sculptures-of-five-extinct-birds-land-in-Smithsonian-Gardens-180950366/

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Pyrenean Ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) : 2000

Pyrenean Ibex, Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica

Once one of four subspecies of the Iberian ibex, the Pyrenean ibex became the second subspecies (the first being the Portuguese ibex, in 1892) to go extinct.

Once a common animal in the Pyrenees, the ibex declined throughout the 19th and 20th centuries due to increasing pressure from hunting, and from competition with livestock. Domestic ungulates like sheep, cattle, goats, and horses competed directly for the same food sources, and during dry summers this could be especially stressful on ibex populations.

The last individual, Celia, was found dead under a fallen tree in 2000. However, the Pyrenean ibex became the first species to become un-extinct, for a period of about seven minutes. A year before her death, tissue samples were taken from Celia's ear. This tissue was used in a successful attempt to clone the species back into existence. However, due to defects in its lungs, the clone died shortly after being born.

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Horned Lizard (Ceratosaurus nasicornis) : 1987

Horned Lizard, Ceratosaurus nasicornis

Not actually a lizard at all, this magnificent animal was much more closely related to birds and crocodylians, being an archosaur itself. 

It was once native across a wide range in both North America and Portugal, and was possibly present in Africa as well, though this population appears to have been extirpated very early on by European settlers engaged in trophy hunting, who viewed the animal as a pest and a threat to ranching.

The large horn on the animal's nose, from which its name derives, had seen use in both Chinese traditional medicine and in the Middle East, where it was frequently carved into ornate handles for ceremonial daggers known as jambiyas. When poaching of the animal was made a criminal offense in the 1970s, demand for the horn exploded. According to Chinese herbalists, the powdered horn was said to "revive comatose patients, facilitate exorcisms and various methods of detoxification, cure fevers, and aid male sexual stamina and fertility". No scientific proof of these claims has ever been gathered, but as demand increased, the numbers of Horned Lizard drastically declined.

The last known animal was killed by poachers in Wyoming in 1987. It was found by Wyoming Game & Fish with its horn and osteoderms removed.

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Killing Endangered Tigers, Just to Watch Them Die | VICE News

Police broke up a ring of businessmen and officials in China who electrocuted at least 10 endangered tigers simply to witness their deaths.

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Toolache/Grey's Wallaby (Macropus greyi) : 1943

Toolache Wallaby, Macropus greyi

A species of wallaby from south-eastern South Australia and south-western Victoria, the Toolache wallaby was highly regarded both for its beautiful coat pattern and for its elegance and swiftness. Unfortunately, these same characteristics also made it a favourite trophy for hunters. Driving the wallabies on horseback or with greyhounds seems to have been a favoured hunting method; wallabies hunted thusly would sometimes die simply from shock and exhaustion. Their pelts were highly prized, even as the species' numbers began to dwindle.

In 1923, the last sizable group of these wallabies was spotted near Robe, but an effort to capture them for preservation in a sanctuary failed miserably, and a number of the wallabies died during the attempted capture.

One wallaby, in captivity at Robe, died in 1939. What was likely the last individual was captured and died in 1943. Hunting, the introduction of foxes to Australia, and land loss due to ranching sent this wallaby into extinction.

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Bluebuck (Hippotragus leucophaeus) : 1800

Bluebuck, Hippotragus leucophaeus

By the time European settlers arrived in what would eventually become South Africa, the bluebuck was already limited to small herds in the coastal regions of the savannas. It was closely related to the roan and sable antelopes, and the name "bluebuck/blue antelope" may be something of a misnomer. None of the preserved specimens in existence today exhibit a blue fur colour; this may have been derived from its mixture of black and yellow hairs, or from the dark skin of older individuals showing through thinning hair. The bluebuck was also a fairly large antelope, comparable in size to an English horse, with very long backwards-swept horns ending in points, and its size and horns made it a formidable prey animal for predators like lions, leopards, and hyenas.

Despite its flesh reportedly being rather distasteful, European settlers hunted it for sport regularly. This hunting, and the conversion of its native habitat to agricultural uses, led to the decimation of the last few herds of the animal, and the last individual was shot around 1800.

Today, only a very few preserved specimens remain in museums, none properly documented. 

[rhamphotheca]

10 Extinct Animals Lost to Planet Earth but Preserved in Photographs [Excerpt & Photo Essay]

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These 10 animals are just a few of the species to have been lost to extinction but still can be seen via old photographs…

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Hokkaidō/Ezo Wolf (Canis lupus hattai) : 1889

Hokkaidō Wolf, Canis lupus hattai

The Hokkaidō wolf, known in Japan as the Ezo wolf (Ezo Ōkami) was one of two subspecies of C. lupus endemic to the Japanese home islands, collectively known as the Japanese wolf (the other subspecies, also extinct, was the Honshū wolf, Canis lupus hodophilax). It was generally the larger of the two subspecies.

The Hokkaidō wolf became extinct during the Meiji restoration, when it was targeted for extermination due to its perceived threat to the expanding ranching industry and to humans. A bounty was placed on all Hokkaidō wolves, and it was directly targeted through a campaign of chemical poisoning.

The last wolf died of poisoning in 1889.

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Arabian Ostrich (Struthio camelus syriacus) : 1966

Arabian Ostrich, Struthio camelus syriacus

A subspecies of ostrich native to the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabian Ostrich is just one more victim of the Holocene Extinction's giant middle finger to birds.

Hunted throughout history for both its meat, eggs, and plumage, the ostrich managed to survive well into the 20th Century because hunting methods prevalent up to that time involved the use of bows and hunting dogs. These methods tended to allow most of a given group of birds to escape. However, with the widespread introduction of firearms, numbers declined, then dwindled to nothing. Climate change (increasing aridity) in some of its former range also appears to have played a part in the subspecies' demise. The last recorded Arabian Ostrich was a dying individual spotted north of Petra circa 1966.

DNA analysis has confirmed the close relationship between the Arabian Ostrich and the North African subspecies of Ostrich (Struthio camelus camelus), and, subsequently, an effort to reintroduce the species to Saudi Arabia has taken place. In the Negev in Israel, a similar reintroduction has taken place, using the Somali Ostrich (Struthio camelus molybdophanes).

The Arabian Ostrich is mentioned in the Bible, by Roman, Chinese, and Islamic sources, and by T.E. Lawrence.

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Pinta Island Tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii) : 2012

Pinta Island Tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii

Functionally extinct since at least 1971, when malacologist József Vágvölgyi first observed Lonesome George, the Pinta Island tortoise was a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise. Overhunting throughout the 19th Century, and competition with an introduced feral goat population for food contributed to the decline of this subspecies. It was presumed extinct for much of the 20th Century, until Lonesome George was observed. 

Attempts to breed George with closely related subspecies of Galápagos tortoise proved unsuccessful, and, though some first-generation hybrids may persist at Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island, the species was presumed extinct with the death of Lonesome George.

Lonesome George spent the latter part of his life in captivity at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, and died 24 June 2012, of heart failure consistent with old age. His taxidermed body is on display at the Charles Darwin Research Station as a sobering reminder for future generations of our role in the extinction of other species.

[katiebennett1991]

A recent study showed that of the world’s 31 largest carnivores, three-quarters are in decline. This includes animals such as pumas, lions, sea otters, dingos, lynx, leopards, and wolves. Large carnivores are particularly sensitive to human population growth because as humans expand into...

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Bali Tiger (Panthera tigris balica) : 1937

Bali tiger, Panthera tigris balica

As the name would imply, this subspecies of tiger was native to the Indonesian island of Bali. It was the smallest of the tiger subspecies, and probably closely related to the also-extinct Javan tiger and the critically endangered Sumatran tiger.

Hunted by Indonesians for centuries, its relationship with human beings was already precarious when Europeans arrived. Sport hunting of the Bali tiger became popular on the island, with the animal perceived as both a threat and a trophy. It was never captured alive on film, nor kept in any zoo (a quick Google search will bring up a lot of dead tiger photos); all we have today are the remains of a few trophies of the hunt, and photos like this one, depicting the hunting party of Baron Oskar Vojnich in November of 1911:

The last known Bali tiger was a female, shot on 27 September, 1937, in west Bali. Populations or individuals may have survived as late as the 1950s, but the loss of habitat on the small island combined with overhunting extirpated the subspecies.