this is your yearly reminder that animals are not toys. they are a huge commitment. even small pets like hamsters and fish can be expensive and require a lot of work. if you’re planning to get someone a pet as a gift this holiday season, please only do so if you’re 100% sure that they are willing and able to take responsibility for the well-being of a living thing, potentially for years or even decades.
You ask a really good question! It’s hard to define exactly when animals are extinct. I’m going to quote this Slate article, but it’s worth reading the entire thing for a much more nuanced view:
“The World Conservation Union will label a species extinct only if “there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died.” In general, scientists must now show that repeated efforts to survey a species’ known habitat failed to turn up any individual sightings or evidence of its continued survival.”
Some animals, like passenger pigeons, we’re pretty sure are gone because their migratory behavior made them very easy to observe. Others, not as much – there’s a great book called Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger that details the people who are still searching for Tasmanian tigers, hoping they retreated to the really inhospitable terrain in the center of the island.
For the most part, scientists are very careful to prove that animals are extinct before declaring them so – but they’re not always right. Black Footed Ferrets were thought to have been extinct… and then someone’s dog came back with a freshly killed one, and led us back to the last surviving population… and now we’ve got more than 300 reintroduced to the wild and a highly successful conservation program for them. It doesn’t happen often and isn’t something to put a lot weight on hoping for, but sometimes miracles do happen.
[DIRECT STARE AT CRESTED GECKOS]
talking ‘bout u, u little shits
it’s actually really really cool. They were thought to be extinct until 1994 when a small population was discovered after a tropical storm. Now they’re hugely popular in the pet trade.
Their population in the wild is decreasing; it’s thought to be primarily due to the introduction of the electric ant. Anyone who owns a crestie can talk about how… uhh… well… dumb these potato lizards are. They’re easy prey for ants, who ALSO go after the same food sources as cresties.
i’m gonna talk a bit more about this because ‘re-discovered extinct animals’ are pretty much my favorite thing. There are a lot of examples, so I’ll just focus on whatever ones are the most interesting to me, personally, because reasons.
Cuban Solenodon (Solenodon cubanus) are so weird. Like really, really weird. They’ve got venomous saliva which might explain why it’s ‘totally extinct’ period was so short. It was declared extinct in 1970, but quickly rediscovered in 1974. There actually might be a reason why there’s so much activity every four years.
Now, I’ve got some personal theories about this, so bear with me: solenodons are closely related to shrews and everyone who’s worked around shrews undergo four year cycles where their populations boom every four years. Why? I don’t know. But I’m guessing that solenodon may go through similar 4 year cycles.
Here’s one that a lot of people have talked about: Ivory billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) aka “oh god bird” because most people would say “oh my god is that a FUCKING BIRD???” because it was/is so huge. I use ‘is/was’ because we’re not even sure if it IS still out there. It’s gone through this cycle a few times of ‘yeah, i’m totally extinct PSYCH I’M STILL OUT HERE’.
The most concrete evidence has only come around recently: in January, 2017, the
Naval Research Laboratory
has published reports of at least 10 sightings, three of which were substantiated with video footage of behaviors and flight patterns that don’t match other known species.
The extinction-rediscovery-extinction cycle has been a financial boon to the area. Brinkley, Arkansas has embraced this pecker (u knew it was coming. u knew) completely, with festivals in its honor. Economic tourism is becoming bigger and, if it can actually benefit the environment, I’m all for it. Unfortunately, it’s likely that the Ivory Bill is functionally extinct. There might be some individuals out there, but they’re not going to be genetically diverse enough to survive long-term.
but u know, i wanna talk about bugs today, so let’s turn our eyes towards ‘thought-to-be-extinct bugs’: the giant palouse worm (Driloleirus americanus) is up first because it’s just??? so weird???? the name means ‘lily-like worm’ because it was rumored that they gave off the smell of lilies when agitated. Buuut since they were assumed extinct, it was kind of hard to verify this. When a few were found in 2010, the first things scientists did was go, “no, they don’t smell like lilies’. Good show, science. They’re still hard to find, presumably because they find our worm-sniffing habit really really creepy.
Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis)- these guys are only found on the humorously named Ball’s Island, probably because they have a sense of humor and really, really want privacy. The really, really cool thing about these bugs (aka tree lobsters) is that they can reproduce parthenogenically! No males needed!! So idk what they need privacy for. Probably stick insect scary stories.
They were assumed extinct until 2003 and two breeding pairs were collected from this highly vulnerable population (which was 24 bugs at the time). These pairs were sent to two zoos (one in Melbourne and one in Sydney). By the beginning of 2016, the Melbourne Zoo had bred 9,000 adults!! Specimens were sent to different zoos. Zoo conservation in action.
I guess the moral is that this happens a LOT. Even if we’re pretty sure a species is extinct, our best bet is to keep protecting their environment. We were (probably) too late to save the baiji, but we can still protect the Yangtze finless porpoise.
“Intersectionality ensures that we listen to our each other’s experiences beyond our personal understanding,” said speaker Ericka Hart. “Intersectionality takes time and forces us to be intentional in our inclusion. Intersectionality centers those who are most marginalized, those who are always fighting for their lives regardless of who is president.”
Today I spoke on the House floor to honor Fred Korematsu Day and to warn my colleagues that silence and complicity in the face of discrimination is never acceptable. It was shameful in 1942 and it is shameful today. We must always uphold the American principle of liberty and justice for all.
AKA: Why breeding livestock is not any more inhumane than what they do to themselves, despite what PETA says
WARNING: THIS STORY DISCUSSES ANIMAL INJURY AND EUTHANASIA
(story is courtesy of @mrmyu , and shared with his permission)
So let’s get some basics out of the way first:
Most beef cattle and sheep producers use what is called “natural cover” to breed their livestock. That is where a bull or ram is turned out into a paddock with one or more females in estrus, and they let nature take its course.
Sometimes the male is put into a barn stall or other fenced area with a female, particularly if one of them is a first-timer. It is considered best practice to put a first time bull in with experienced cows, or a first-time heifer in with an experienced and gentle bull. This is done to reduce stress to both animals. Stressed animals don’t get pregnant or get others pregnant.
Another thing to point out is that female animals in estrus are very….insistent on being bred. If you have been around a female cat in heat, you know they yowl and pace are generally fairly disruptive. Larger mammals experience similar urges. Cows literally go into standing estrus, where they will mount other cows or allow other cows to mount them. If a cow isn’t in estrus and that happens? Or if they are and just don’t like the male? The mounted cow will get away and will not allow it, as you will see.
Now here comes the story. @mrmyu ‘s family has cattle, and his father had purchased a new bull named Pepperoni. (We don’t know his actual name, but spoiler alert, that’s his fate by the end). Pepperoni was the catch of the county in cow terms: excellent pedigree, sturdy, good lines…he would be a good addition to the herd for years to come. And since he was a first timer, he was put in overnight with a more experienced lady.
Well, apparently Pepperoni was not as good with the ladies as had been hoped, because come morning, Pepperoni’s erm…pepperoni… was broken. Half of it was at a right angle to the other half, likely due to a well-placed kick. Because bulls have fibro-elastic penises, that meant that it couldn’t be retracted, and was beyond a vet’s ability to assist. The bull had to be put down out of mercy.
The reason I bring this up is twofold: one, ACCIDENTS HAPPEN. Even on the best of farms, sometimes things go wrong. Biology is messy, animals are unpredictable, and even the most caring, conscientious farmer can have an animal get severely injured due to bad luck.
Two, if a female doesn’t want to be bred by a particular male, she has ways of letting him know, and they are effective ones. Particularly in a production setting, where there may be more than one male available. Even if she is in the height of her heat and really wants to be bred, she can decide a given male isn’t the right one for her, and forced mating is extremely unlikely. Farmers will cull males that are too rough with the females. Sometimes, as you can see, the females sort of handle the culling themselves.
This is why it’s important to know the industry before calling anything animal abuse on anything that happens – for any animal industry.
no for real, those lil spurs that some snakes have? those are leggies.
those itty bitty bits of bone in the ribs, right at the base of the tail? that’s actually all what remains of the pelvis an leggies. li’l bits of femur, that be the spurs.
That Odd Boy 