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Heads We Win, Tales You Loose
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EXTINCTION IS FOREVER
Mules — bred from male donkeys and female horses — are smarter than either of their parent species; the first time ‘hybrid vigour’ has shown it is able to improve cognitive function. Unfortunately mules are sterile, so it’s the end of the line for this intelligence gift.
The Laysan duck and 30 other of the world’s rarest species face extinction simply because the US doesn’t care about them. The birds live on the Hawaiian archipelago and Hawaii doesn’t have the money. Twenty-three Hawaiian bird species have become extinct since the arrival of Europeans in 1778 and the remaining 17 species have dwindled to fewer than 1000 individuals.
Half of the worlds 634 species of primate now face extinction. Loss of habitat and going into the dinner pots of hunters — gibbons, leaf monkeys, langurs (Vietnam, Cambodia) and Red Colubus monkeys in Africa.
The future may look bleak for the tigers of Bangladesh’s Sundarbansman Grove Forest at the mouth of the Ganges river, starving to death as sea levels rise. |
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Mule
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The worlds rarest cat — the Iberian Lynx — may now stand a whiskers chance of surviving extinction. Trapping, loss of habitat and the disappearance of its main prey, the rabbit has meant only 200 are thought to survive; however 50 more have been found in isolated pockets (unfortunately on private land used for game hunting!) If it were to become extinct it would be the first big cat species to do so since the sabre-toothed Smilodon, some 10,000 years ago. Unfortunately, its country of habitat, Spain, has poor conservation laws.
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| MILESTONES OF MIGRATION |
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Grey whales undertake the longest migration of any mammal, covering up to 19,0000 kilometres annually between Mexico and the Arctic seas. |
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Caribou hold the record for the longest overland migration at around 3000 kilometres per year. |
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The longest turtle migration was a Leatherback of 20,558 kilometres. |
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However the Sooty Shearwater caps all records — their whole journey lasts more than six months and covers an average of 64,000 km. |
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EXCESSES OF EXPLOITATION
Swathes of virgin Amazonian rainforest totalling almost the area of Texas and rich in species are threatened by 180 proposed gas and oil explorations.
Mineral exploitation and gold fever is drawing countless thousands to the rainforest to cash in on the 300-500 per cent increase in price of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and molybdenum. Coal prices have doubled in the past 6 months.
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Extraction of bauxite in the middle of the Amazon
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One of the very few industries continuing to reap huge profits each year (in their words, a good return to investors) are the mining companies. The worlds major mining corporations are headquartered in wealthy nations and are profiting from the environmental destruction of the countries they exploit. The fat man in the city apartment pockets his dividends totally oblivious to the death and possible extinction of so many species of insects, animals and plant life his money really cost the world — but “heh, who cares — I’m doin’ fine”
Visit the websites of the major mining companies and they will tell you how ‘conservation-conscious’ they are, and look how many awards we have to prove it! Their Technical Writers have developed the art of Spin to the inth degree.
Even eco tourism is impacting on wildlife. University of Otago wildlife management specialist, Philip Seddon, says such apparently harmless activities may alter the whole make up of wildlife communities. Eco tourism impacts demonstrably on carnivores such as bobcats and coyotes, dolphins, dingoes, penguins and polar bears. “Perhaps we need areas set aside from virtually all human use” says a serious Seddon.
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DEFINING A ‘ HUMAN’ HAS A DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY
What is the difference between man and animals? The eternal question raises its head again from yet another ‘discovery’.
“The gross anatomy of the human brain is significantly different from that of other species. These structural differences in turn, reflect different cognitive functions leading to our ability to construct alternative realities, which can be played out as a simulation in the minds eye” says expert Gazzaniga; but how does he know that animals don’t do the same thing?
Q. What animal can make fire?
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