Imagine this..... We all know that deforestation, human development, and other habitat changes are seriously affecting the floura and fauna of earth. However, most just leave it at that. In previous post of mine, I talked about animals feelings. Feeling fear, dispair, happiness, etc. It is clear that they do. Just look at a backyard bird feeder when a hawk or falcon flies overhead. Or see how a house cat acts after it's longtime friend and roommate dies. Combine these feelings with situations brought on by habitat loss, and you can have some pretty sad stories. For instance... a bird that is now almost certainly extinct, the Bachman's Warbler, must have gone through a really tough time. All data for this species is from, at the latest, the 1940's.... advances in data collection and strategies for understanding the ranges of migrating songbirds have grown exponentially over the years so it is difficult to know exactly where this bird spent it's time. From what is know, the Bachman's warbler wintered soley on the island of Cuba, and perhaps a couple of its neighboring islands. It's summer/breeding range was (approx) from Missouri, east to the Atlantic coast in central Virginia, and from the OK/Ak and TX/LA border east to Florida. With the bulk of late/pre-extinction sightings coming from the Carolinas. Thats it. (The last positive and accepted sighting of the Bachman's warbler was from Charleston, SC in 1962) Their breeding habitat requirements were bottomland forests/swamps with pools of standing water, near the edges or openings where dense vegetation broke. Canebreaks were supposedly a place they frequented. Whether for nest material or feeding requirements. In the early 1900s, the push for more land for agriculture acutally, at first, helped the Bachman's warbler. Forests and brushy fields were cleared for agriculture, and the edges/borders were made with Giant cane (hence the term, 'canebreaks'). These newly accesible habitats were supposedly what the Bachman's warbler specialized in living/foraging/breeding/feeding in. However, not to far down the road, those areas where the newly placed canebreaks helped the warbler were needed for more land clearing and more crop growing. So then the species went into a serious decline. It is not known EXACTLY what is to blame for the possible extinction (it isn't impossible for there to be a fe around.... although all the experts say it is most liekyl gone forever) of the Bachman's warbler. But the concensus is extreme habitat loss. Again... we hear that and think, "whatever". Nobody stops to think about how it went down. That small corner of the US was all it had in the world. Over a few decades, it's range was systematically ripped and pulled apart and all that was left was random spots. It is thought that eventually, the males and females just couldn't find each other anymore. Imagine that.... a highly specialized migrant that evolved perfectly for its environment was tossed into extinction because it could no longer find a mate. It isn't impossible for that to have happened over one migration. In MANY species of birds, the males will migrate to breeding grounds before the females to stake out their territory. Further, adult males and females migrate back to their wintering grounds at different times than thier offspring. A pair of Bachman's warblers may have fledged 3 young. The 5 of them migrate south at whatever time. The next year, they could have then taken the same route to the same area of their breeding grounds and found that what they knew, was know gone. Now, they have to find a suitable place to live. Not just to mate, although their instincts will surely be telling them too.... but to find food and shelter. They were so specialized that they needed certain plants for nest building, and others for seeds to eat. Or habitats that produced a certain species of invertebrate they ate. Imagine being tought how to live in one highly specialized environment. Imagine you were tought only how to live in a very specific area. Imagine you were only tought how to find food from a very specific habitat. Now imagine you come back there and it is gone. What do you do?? As humans, we could most likely just wing it. Not so easy for birds. Besides what their parents taught them, they run on intense inner instincts and rely on them to live. One of the last sightings of a Bachman's warbler involved a lone singing male. Again, to some that means nothing. To me, that makes me feel like shit. The guy flew however many hundreds of miles, like he knows he should... maybe not why he should, be he does know. He left earlier than the females he thinks are around in order to get his territory ready for them. He begins practicing his song from a high exposed perch.... soon his practicing tunrs into desperation. The breeding season goes by with him being the only Bachman's warbler he has seen. No females. No other males. Nothing. Now, he will make the long journey home like he has done before, and like his ancestors have done for thousands or millions of years. Who knows if he will make it back again. Migratory birds rely very heavily on food sources in their specific habitats. They need to bulk up and fill up on protien in order to make the long flight... which may go for hundreds of miles over sea. Bachman's warblers may not have been able to find, or find enough of the life-sustaining food they have relied on for millenia. And who knows what happened on their wintering grounds in Cuba. All this could have been happening in the US, and then the birds leave for Cuba... and it could have been just as bad there. No salvation for the needy. It is a sad story that has been told all too often. Labrador Duck. Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Eskimo Curlew. Bachman's warbler. We are only one species. One, albiet highly evolved species. We are but one species out of millions. Who are we to say we are the best? Know one can truley know that..... one main reason is the obvious bias humans have towards animals. Although, I can tell you this for certain... we are by far the most destructive, cold, indifferent, selfish.... and doomed species. And it pissed me off. We need to conserve the important fly-ways the migratory birds take every year, and have taken every year for a shit-load longer than we have been ruing the world. Information is key. Like I said... most people hear 'habitat loss' and leave it at that. They don't know, care, or understand what is really happening. Information is key. I can bet that say, a group of 1000 people may know what habitat loss is. I bet even some of them are interested. And I can bet that most of them don't know any specifics or any small things they can do to help. Information is key. Who knows... a sad story like the Bachman's warbler may urge just one more person to become involved. And hey, that would eb one more person than before. I, personally, never plan on having kids.... but many people are. Did you know that there is a good chance that Polar bears will be extinct by the end of your children's lifetime?? Future generations aren't going to miss the amazing and extraordinary natural wonders our planet has to offer..... because there won't be anything for them to miss. Information is key.
I generally agree although I think you are a little over the top in a few places. But I would also urge everyone to remember that ups and downs for species, including extinction, is part of the natural order and always has been. Nothing is more arrogant for humans that to think that right now, the present status quo, is where everything should be frozen. it was the major extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs that created the opportunity for mammals and eventually humans. There are always winners along with the losers.
its a sad thing, man. i think that no amount of conservation effort would save animals like this from humanity in the long (word used loosely) run. as long as humans walk the earth, they are pretty much doomed. i kind of hate mankind sometimes
i think we should focus more on human over-population before anything can be done for earth's other animals. we seem to think that we're worth more than anything else in the entire universe, we even picture possible aliens as hideous beasts but we all need to realize that if we dont live in harmony with the planet we'll be doomed and the universe's only known humans would go extinct.
I am well aware of the previous extinctions and mass-extinction events. That has always happened, and will continue. Same thing with global warming. The main, glaring difference is that past extinctions and mass-extinctions events were not directly caused by humans. The mammoths didn't need agriculture land that decimated the giant sloth's habitat. Don't take this the wrong way..... but no shit. Obviously extinctions have always been around. Thats why we don't have saber-tooth cats and archaeoptryx still around. But like I said..... there is a huge ifference between natural occuring climate change, meteor hits, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, (all natural causes of mass extinctions)... and land fills, corn fields, shopping plazas, and oil spills. Human interference in the natural progression of a species legacy has been going on wince before technology even. Bisons hunted down to near extinction by natives that truely needed the meat, bone, sinew, and hides. Same thing with mammoths and cro-magnon man. The point of my post was to bring to light the massive amount of harm humans do to the environment and wildlife. Like I said... no shit animals have been going extinct for ever. That wasn't the point. Yes there are 'always winner and losers'..... when it is natural. Humans clearing natural areas for their personal use, is not humans winning and the Bachman's warbler losing. It is humans and the warbler losing. I'll say it again because because.... no shit. The fact that animals have been going extinct since forever has nothing to do with my post. I said nothing about me thinking, or anyone else thinking that wildlife progession is static. Come on now.
My point is that it is arrogant for humans to think we are all good and God's gift to the earth. it is equally arrogant to think we are all bad as many these days seem to believe. I just think we are a part of nature, a product of nature and we are not having nearly the effect on the earth as the environmental radicals would have us believe. I also believe man-made global warming is mainly a political hoax so I guess we can just disagree.
I have never really put myself in the shoes, so to speak, of a dying species. This post kind of bummed me out... I feel it opened my eyes to the world around me a little bit.
I actually agree with you. Most people make things out to be worse than they are. But there is no way to deny that harm that is being done. I read an article recently that said eating meat contributes to global warming. So we are on the same page there. Global warming has happened, and un-happened, many times before. And it will happen again. Nonetheless, humans sure as shit aren't doing much to counter-balance what negative impacts we have cause. Its tough.... a slippery slope. Once global warming begins, there are naturally occuring situations that cause it to continue, if not increase... 1) Ice, being white, reflects sunlight. The less ice, the more sunlight that is going to be absorbed 2) As the ice receeds, it is exposing the remnants of long dead organisms. Previously frozen and trapped, the leftovers that seep out of the newly thawed ground increase the greenhouse gases released. Specifically methane. Permafrost makes up 85% of Alaskan land and a lot of Canada and Siberia. Thawing permafrost doesn't only hold 15% of the worlds carbon, countless homes and towns are built on it. If it thaws... not only will a lot of greenhouse gases be released, homes will be lost, landslides and erosion will be wide spread, and a whole lot of amazing places will be in dire straights. Personally, I don't believe in god.... I believe in science. And obviously we aren't all bad, or else I wouldn't take the time to talk about these subjects. We are not god's gift to earth. We are an accidental result of natural occuring processes. I am a firm believer that humans are not the be all and end all of species. Regardless of what one thinks, believes, or understands..... a person has to be straight up stupid to think that humans aren't ruing the planet. Do horses put massive piles of un-biodegradable trash on a barge and set it out to sea not caring where it lands? Do polar bears create giant landfills? Do fish spill oil? Granted, there are natural oil spills..... but not even close to the scale that humans are on. Do hawks level forests to put up condos?? Right now, sitting here, I honestly can't think of a natural occuring situation that comes anywhere near the amount of destruction and irreversable bullshit that humans cause. Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes.... not quite. They've gone on forever. Maybe a swarm of locusts. Imagine how many cars are running right now on earth that weren;t 5000 years ago. In the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, England, Scotland, France, Italy, CHINA, JAPAN, Russia, anywhere in the middle east. That is a ridiculous amount of CO2. Which is more prevelt greenhouse cas than the naturally occuring methane. That isn't including planes. Actually.....methane isn't all naturally occuring. Fossil fuel production releases methane. Deforestation isn't just hurting wildlife. Who needs trees?? Anything that breathes oxygen. Taking them away, adds to CO2, which adds to global warming. After emmisions, deforestation is second highest cause of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Here is something interesting.... a study done in 1996 (13 years ago...maybe more hybrids, but many more regular cars to offest that) found that drivers sitting in traffic waste 600 MILLION gallons of gas. That is 7.5 million tons of CO2. Oh... thats on Los Angeles and New York.... in one year. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are the higest they have been in 650,000 years!! You can't sit there and say that humans aren't a big part of that. A buddy of mine said it perfectly the other day... Humans are parasites. Parasites can be defined as something that takes/consumes and gives nothing back. The handful of people who acutally give a shit about our planet are so indcredibly overmatched by people who don't give a shit that change will never come until major cities are under water (which WILL happen regardless) or we have to use gasmasks to go outside. Just think about how many people there are in the world. Now think about, say, China for instance. Billions of people live their life as dirty and pollution filled as anyone...and have done so for a long time. Do you think some hippies with a few facts are going to change their minds?? Hell no. There are FAR too many people who are secure with their lives, and too insecure to change. Its a shitty way to think but.... I'll be dead by the time anything serious happens. And I have no, and will not have any children. So if people want to leave thier kids a rotting earth, thats their perogative.
haha dude the thing about us being parasites kinda makes sense. it could even explain why we're so different from other animals and how we can have people like hitler who have a complete disregard for anything outside of their own being. but uh, how old you? im 18 so i hope im also dead by the time disaster strikes. lol
I'm 23. Shooting fish is OK..... for sport, and within the states/counties legal limitations. Hunting is actually a good thing in some circumstances. For instance, here in CT (more specifically, southwestern where it is much more populated) White-tailed Deer are friggin everywhere. So whacking a few deer here and there, within regulations, can actually help the greater community. Less road accidents**, my fucking Tulips might be safe, and believe it or not it lowers the tick rate. **those of you who read this thread, or others I've made, can probably tell I am an animal/nature lover. Well.... the other day I was driving home at a very early hour.... I was just out with a few biologists counting and surveying owl roost in the night and the sun had only been up for maybe 3 minutes. So I'm driving down this road in my town that has a strange intersection.... a side road connects perpendicular to the road I was on. The direction I was going, does not have a stop sign at the side road..... there is a stop sign on coming the other way. So I'm going down this road, and I see 5 crossing the road, coming from the side street. I stopped several yards back to let them go, but in the distance I could see an SUV barreling down the road. Granted, many people roll through this stop sign because it is in a very quiet area and the chances of actually waiting for another car to go first are very slim. I've been known to do it too. Anyway.... I see this SUV (one of those ugly fuckin Tonka looking, plastic square Honda things...no offense) coming down the road at a good clip. He obviously wasn't planning on stopping.... maybe he didn't know the area, or was a douche. That is yet to be determined. He clearly didn't see the small doe that was last in line..... so, while I'm parked there (a car parked with no stop sign or red light probably should have tiopped this asshole off that something was up), I screaming at this deer to hurry up across the road. I rolled down my window, yelled, waived my arms at the SUV, and.... BOOM! The Honda absolutely wrecked the deer. And perhaps its a testament to Honda's vehicle making, but the SUV wasn't very badly damaged. The guy got out (younger than me, and I'm 23), looked at his truck first, looked at the deer, looked at me, went into the back of the truck, grabbed a towel, wiped off the blood and hair, and fucking drove off. His window was down so I yelled his liscence plate number outloud so he could hear me, and know I wasn't going to let it slide. Although there is nothing the cops could do. So now here I am, my pick-up parked and running in the middle of a street, with a dying deer sprawled out across the road. It was still alive. I went over to it, reluctant to touch it, and it lifted its head up with what strength it had left and blood poured from it's mouth. It couldn't tell if it lifted it's head out of instinct to continue to try and get away from me, or to relay to me her pain. Both of it's front legs had been given new knees, and they were both bent back between the hoof and knee. There was a sizable pool of blood coming from it's head/mouth, and small bits of blood and hair around the road. At this point, I was getting a serious lump in my throat. I didn't lose it until I realized that the other 3 deer were still on the other sideof the road watching. I couldn't help but start bawling. I never tried to pretend I was cool, but I'm not one to let things bother me like that. I called the DEP and they sent someone to clean up the mess. Hunting can, barely, slow these sort of incidents. Then there is alwasy another side of the story. Hunters are always looking for ways around shit. One great example that pisses me off to this day is how hunters use list-servers to find out where things are. Several years back, a duck that is unbelievably rare in CT was hanging out in a well known marsh. Serious birders network in order to find the rarities, and a hunter found a way onto one of the lists. Soon after, it was found out that a hunter killed the Cinnimon Teal.... the first ever record of that species in CT. The hunter even had the balls to get it mounted at a local taxadermist. It should be said that the hunter wasn't hunting illegally. He was hunting in a legal area within the duck hunting season. He just took advantage of us birders getting the word out that a rare duck was around. Another instance happened years before that. In CT a duck called the Common Goldeneye is super common in winter along the coast, and some lakes. Its western counterpart, the Barrow's Goldeneye, is an extremely casual visitor to the east coast. A CT birder found a Barrow's and only let word out to a few people. Soon after he got a call.... 'Your Barrow's Goldeneye has just been mounted by so an so'. Hunters still use body-crushing traps. A trap that is ment to completel inable any animal that it catches. Very recently (in 09) a Great Horned Owl got caught in one of the ridiculouslu inhumane traps and had to have it's leg amputated. Soon after it was euthanised. There are plenty on non-lethal ways to trap animals. Here in CT, several mammals are still allowed to be trapped.... Coyotes, Racoons, Mink, weasel, otter (I think), and even Bobcat. Can you believe that shit?? It is still perfectly legal to kill a Bobcat in 38 states!!! I find it outrageous that we don't learn anything from other situations. Cougars are like relics now because of hunters. I was lucky enough to see one chasing a fawn in far northwestern North Dakota. Damn.... I really was going to try and practice not rambling on my posts. Oh well. Next time!! (Frequency orders..... abundant, common, common in migration, rare, casual, vagrant)