#foreverextinct

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Forever Extinct, second series - #2 Fernandina Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis phantasticus) The Fernandina Giant Tortoise has been see the last time in 1906 and believed to be extinct untill 2017, when the the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had flagged the Fernandina on its Red List first as possibly extinct and then as critically endangered. 

Few days ago, a hundred years old Fernandina have been found in the Galapagos by Washington Tapia, who has been working on tortoise conservation for 30 years. 

Tapia and his team are convinced that more Fernandinas may be alive, and if they will find them they will be able to restore the population's number and then return them to thier natural habitat. 

. . Read more about this very good news here. . . . . . #foreverextinct #extinctionisforever #fernandinagianttortoise #illustrations #artonistagram #environmentalart #environmentalillustration #washingtontapia #imbackbitches #gianttortoise #gianttortoiserestoration

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Forever Extinct #7 – Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla)

The pangolin, often mistaken for a reptile, is actually a scaly-skinned mammal, today critically endangered and listed in the red list of the IUCN since 2013.

When pangolins feel to be in danger, they roll into a ball exposing only the hard scales for protection.

It is difficult to estimate the population size of those animals, but it is believed to be in strong decline due to the demand of pangolin meat and scales. They are indeed the most trafficked animals in Asia, plus nowadays their traffic is greatly increasing in Africa, too. 

They are illegally mostly sold in Vietnam and China, places where their meat is considered a delicacy and their scales are used in traditional medicine, as remedy for different health issue - from asthma to rheumatisms - even if there are no evidences that they are effectively curative: they are just made of keratin (like our nails and hairs).

 Learn more here:

 https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/pangolin

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12764/45222544

Learn here about pangolins traffic:

https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/chinese-officials-seize-nearly-a-thousand-dead-pangolins/

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Forever Extinct #6 – White-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala)

 As I was doing my researches to find new endangered species for my illustration series, I came across to this beautiful duck: I’ve never seen it before! The colour of the beak is the thing that most amazed me, and also how that light blue is in wonderful balance with the tone of their plumage. Nature is definitely incredible and she has a perfect taste for art.

Those beauties (Oxyura leucocephala) are endangered and they belonged to the IUCN red list since 2000, and although there are some conservations sites and in-place research and monitoring programme, their number is constantly decreasing, and now the number of mature individuals is between 5,300 and 8,700.

They are native to the Palearctic, and they can also be found in the Ethiopia region. The largest population is found in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Mongolia. Central and East-Asian populations tend to be migratory while populations in Spain and North Africa are non-migratory.

 White-headed ducks are diving ducks and are reluctant to fly in general: they prefer shallow margins of lakes in which they can dive repeatedly. They remain submerged for 5 to 7 seconds and dive again within seconds of surfacing.

 The most serious threat for the White-headed Duck is the destruction of its natural habitats – nesting, resting and wintering sites.

 The illustrations depicts their general alert position, the one they assume when they are in danger to be predated, with a head-up tale.

 Learn more about them:

 https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22679814/119403602

 https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Oxyura_leucocephala/

 http://bspb.org/en/threatened-species/white-headed-duck.html