Heartbroken, because I just learnt about the extinction of the Christmas Island Pipistrelle, Pipistrellus Murrayi.
This little bat went extinct on the 26th August, 2009. That's the date the last individual stopped calling.
Can you imagine being one of the scientists trying to save the species?
Can you imagine the grief they must have felt knowing there's only one left, that for all they tried to help they still failed. Knowing there is no saving this species, but still holding out hope because we can still hear one, it's still here.
The overwhelming loss as you wait all night to hear this last pipistrelle's calls, and nothing comes. Knowing you've lost a species for good, and you can pinpoint the exact day.
All extinctions are heartbreaking, but this one? This one is somehow the saddest story I've heard.
Image credit: A. Heathcote, The first irretrievable failure of the EPBC Act’: the case of the Christmas Island pipistrelle, Australian Geographic (7 September 2018): link to article below
The Christmas Island pipistrelle is poignant reminder of Australia’s extinction crisis, and how we’re failing our unique fauna.
