No extinction!!

[Ithaca 37]

Here's why no animal or plant species should be allowed to go extinct. Who knows what's left to be discovered?

"Poison from Lethal Fish Could Be a Painkiller"

TORONTO (Reuters) - A tiny Canadian company wants to use poison from a fish -- a substance more toxic than cyanide -- to help cancer patients suppress pain or to wean heroin addicts off their habit.



International Wex Technologies, a Vancouver-based company listed on the small-cap Canadian Venture Exchange, says early trials show positive results from tetrodotoxin, although bigger and more extensive tests will be needed before the product reaches the marketing stage.


It says the new drug could be on the market within three years, if all the tests work out.


The new drug is derived from a blowfish poison -- a substance so dangerous that a mere trace can paralyze a person within minutes.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&ncid=753&e=1&u=/nm/20031130/sc_nm/health_canada_blowfish_dc

 

[ELKCHSR]

This is all fine and dandy, but Mother Earth will not allow us to save every thing...
The planet only has some 2% of the life forms left, and very very little has been to the destruction of habitat by man....

 

[1_pointer]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> and very very little has been to the destruction of habitat by man.... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Your joking right?

 

[feclnogn]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Your joking right? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I suggest you watch two shows done by the BBC, one is Walking with Dinasors, the other Walking with Prehistoric beasts.

Did man cause these species to go extinct??? Extinction happens primarily due to climatic change, and some species just do not have what it takes to make it. Life goes on, and on and on. It the nature of the game.

S. Fecl

 

[ELKCHSR]

No, I'm not joking...
This comes from the many different sciencs shows that come across the tv all the time...
There have been larger catastrophies that have hit Earth than man...By far...Larger ones...It is also theorized by many that the Native Indians of North America is what caused a few of the animals that were around only some ten K years ago to go extinct!!!

 

[Washington Hunter]

It just amazes me every time I hear the argument that because large catastrophes may have happened in the past, and may have wiped out many species, that it is ok for man to cause the extinction of many species of life also. I just don't get it.

Anybody else understand that logic? (besides Elkchaser)

 

[Ithaca 37]

"Extinction happens primarily due to climatic change, and some species just do not have what it takes to make it. Life goes on, and on and on. It the nature of the game."

fecl, You oughta be able to do better than that! Here's a site for high school kids that might help you understand the problem.

http://serval.olivet.edu/gradusers/bfish/Webquest/webquest.htm

Of all the species that have gone extinct in the last 150 years, can you name five that went extinct because of climate change?

Here's a little basic info for you.

"The extinction of living things occurred naturally even without any abnormal environmental change on a global scale. In the past, extinction, including mass extinction of wildlife, occurred over a long time period, which gave ample time for the next cluster of biological species to evolve. However, since human beings began to dominate the earth, their activities have pushed living things to extinction at an unprecedented speed. Environmental changes due to such phenomena as large-scale deforestation, the use of agricultural chemicals and the discharge of industrial wastes, have damaged living things' habitats, and in turn have disrupted and even destroyed ecosystems.

Until the 18th century, an average of about 0.25 species of living things became extinct per year. This rate jumped to one species per year in the 19th century, to 1,000 species per year in 1975, and to 40,000 species per year by around the year 2000."

 

[Ithaca 37]

fecl, How many of these species are extinct because of climate change?

The Alliance for Zero Extinction
Pinpointing and conserving epicenters of imminent extinctions

Latin American and Caribbean Bird Species Not Reliably Recorded in the Last Five Years

Common Name
Scientific Name
Country
Last Reported
Notes

Coppery Thorntail
Popelairia letitiae
Bolivia
1852

Alagoas Currasow
Mitu mitu
Brazil
1988
Still a few in captivity.

Spix's Macaw
Cyanopsitta spixii
Brazil
2000
Single individual now disappeared, otherwise not since 1980s. Others in Captivity

Blue-eyed Ground-Dove
Columbina cyanopis
Brazil
1992

Rondônia Bushbird
Clytoctantes atrogularis
Brazil
1989

Recurve-billed Bushbird
Clytoctantes alixii
Brazil
1965

Bahia Tapaculo
Scytalopus psychopompus
Brazil
1983

Hooded Seedeater
Sporophila melanops
Brazil
1823

Cone-billed Tanager
Conothraupis mesoleuca
Brazil
1938

Eskimo Curlew
Numenius borealis
Brazil, Argentina
1939
South American range, last South American record.

Purple-winged Ground-Dove
Claravis godefrida
Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina
1994

Glaucous Macaw
Anodorhynchus glaucus
Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
1951

Magdalena Tinamou
Crypturellus saltuarius
Colombia
1943
Known from a single specimen.

Bogotá Sunangel
Heliangelus zusii
Colombia
1909
Known from a single specimen.

Saphire-bellied Hummingbird
Lepidopyga lilliae
Colombia
1990s

Niceforo's Wren
Thryothorus nicefori
Colombia
1989

Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer
Diglossa gloriosissima
Colombia
1965

Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Campephilus principalis
Cuba
1980s
But recent rumors persist.

Turquoise-throated Puffleg
Eriocnemis godini
Ecuador
1800s
An unconfirmed 1976 record.

Cayenne Nightjar
Caprimulgus maculosus
French Guiana
1917
Recent unconfirmed records.

Jamaica Petrel
Pterodroma caribbaea
Jamaica
1879

Jamaican Pauraque
Siphonornis americanus
Jamaica
1860

Guadalupe Storm-Petrel
Oceanodroma macrodactyla
Mexico
1912
Not found during 2000 expedition.

White-fronted Swift
Cypseloides storeri
Mexico
1995

Imperial Woodpecker
Campephilus imperialis
Mexico
1990s

Cozumel Thrasher
Toxostoma guttatum
Mexico
1995

Kalinowski's Tinamou
Nothoprocta kalinowskii
Peru
1900
Probable recent record.

Semper's Warbler
Leucospeza semperi
St. Lucia
1969

Bachman's Warbler
Vermivora bachmanii
USA/Cuba
1988
Last confirmed nesting 1937.

Tachira Antpitta
Grallaria chthonia
Venezuela
1956



Reference: BirdLife International (2000) Threatened Birds of the World. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International

http://www.zeroextinction.org/last_seen.htm

Please check out this site for some interesting info on the extinction rate.

http://www.zeroextinction.org/overview.htm

 

[Ithaca 37]

Here's another good site with some facts about extinction:

http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/extinct.htm

E X T I N C T


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Choose an animal to learn more about why it became extinct.
AN OVERVIEW OF EXTINCTION

BLUE PIKE

CARIBBEAN MONK SEAL

DODO BIRD

HEATH HEN

MOAS

NEANDERTHAL

PASSENGER PIGEON

STELLAR'S SEA COW

DUSKY SEASIDE SPARROW

TASMANIAN TIGER-WOLF

PLEISTOCENE MEGAFAUNA

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-13-2003 21:57: Message edited by: Ithaca 37 ]</font>

 

[Moosie]

Most of the Extinct animals are from Mexico and Peru. If they would learn to Jump the Boarder into the USA like CJCJ's buddies, Maybe they would have made it. ?!?!?!

CJCJ, Whats your take on this

 

[ELKCHSR]

All the liberal save the world movements seem to happen here in the US the way it is portrayed..
Why isn't it that these people go to where the problems in the world and beat their drums...
Is it because they really believe in what they spout, or is it just because this is where the money is and it is hard to get away from the ol' purse....

 

[1_pointer]

Fecl- Yes it's true that climate change is the largest contributor to extinction. However, it the last 15K yrs this has been difficult to prove because man had spread to parts of the world not previously occupied by humanoids, ie North and South America. Humans are a large reason that many species of Megafauna disappeared from this continent.

Elkchsr- TNC has conserved more land abroad than it has in the US. Many orgs. do use the US to fund many things around the world. Kinda like the thing in Iraq.

 

[ELKCHSR]

There is a huge amoung of $$$ that they spend here that could be spent abroad to do more good for these creatures than spending money's on busing collage kids to the Northwest to picket extraction jobs that have been in the works for years and could have been drum beated in the interim.

 

[feclnogn]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Humans are a large reason that many species of Megafauna disappeared from this continent.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well then it sounds like the answer is to kill all of the humans. The self loathing you people have is totally amazing.

Tell me what is your answer to ending extincton?? The only solution I can see is the one I listed above.

 

[Washington Hunter]

Fecl, Killing all humans would work, but don't you think we could compromise? How about just keeping the human population where it is now? Course we all know that's not gonna happen. But, that is the solution, the only one I see.

 

[1_pointer]

Fecl- Extinction is going to happen, whether I or anyone else like it. I have no grandiose plans of stopping it. But, we can prevent some things from going extinct. Humans are a part of the system (though we play the biggest role), not just some puppeteer to control it to our whims. Once extinct they won't come back. So, if we (humans) have the means to get along without causing more extinctions, then I'm for it.