poor hippos and poler bears :(

[Vietcong]

not good for those animals, including some 500 other kinds in JUST 2 YEARS!



"GENEVA - Polar bears and hippos have joined the ranks of species threatened with extinction from climate change, unregulated hunting, habitat destruction and other man-made dangers, leading researchers said Tuesday in a listing of the world’s wildlife.

The World Conservation Union, or IUCN, said more than 16,000 species of animals and plants are at risk of disappearing, including one in three amphibians, one in four mammals and one in eight birds.

The IUCN added 530 species to its “Red List” of endangered species since the last version released two years ago."




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12594371/

 

[skadistic]

Hippos kill more people every year then crockadiles. I say let 'em die.

Extinction is part of how the world works. Just look at the dinosaures. Not every animal will survive for ever. The world will balence itself out if one animal is gone another one will fill its place, adapt, and that is how evolution works......kinda.

 

[GeneralZed]

Soon there will be only humans, cows, chickens, pigs and some fishes and plants on this planet...

 

[thetrooper]

Soon there will be only humans, cows, chickens, pigs and some fishes and plants on this planet...

And bloody cormorants!

 

[Abaddon]

your forgetting pigeons, rats and all those other "pests" of humanity- We are the dominant species on this planet, and are out competeing others for resourses. This is natural.

BUT these animals that are dying out hold more than just aesthetic value. More and more we are discovering uses for the the most obscrure animals in medicine.. like snails combatting cancer etc. Our worlds diversity should be conserved for this reason primarily if we think altrusitically (wrong word?)

 

[thetrooper]

Our worlds diversity should be conserved for this reason primarily if we think altrusitically (wrong word?)

I believe that we use that word for humans, but we understand what you're trying to say.

 

[BCLG100]

apparantly there are haemaphrodite polar bears as well.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Hippos kill more people every year then crockadiles. I say let 'em die.

Extinction is part of how the world works. Just look at the dinosaures. Not every animal will survive for ever. The world will balence itself out if one animal is gone another one will fill its place, adapt, and that is how evolution works......kinda.

Well, yah, "kinda"....

I think we can respect evolution wiping out species - but when one species does the red ant thing of redefining the entire rules of the game, over-running everything, and not letting anything else adapt, establish itself, or find any niche in the world unless it fits the dominant species' purposes, then we have a different problem. Human beings are in that role now, and it's not that we have an organised plan to wipe out other species, it's just that our rampant exploitation of the planet is rendering it uninhabitable for many other species.

This is not evolution, this is ecological genocide.

 

[Odin2006]

Hippos kill more people every year then crockadiles. I say let 'em die.

Extinction is part of how the world works. Just look at the dinosaures. Not every animal will survive for ever. The world will balence itself out if one animal is gone another one will fill its place, adapt, and that is how evolution works......kinda.

The difference is that humans are intelligent beings, asteroids arn't. Humans can choose NOT cause a mass extinction.

 

[Shaihulud]

We must never forget the cockroaches too. They will definitely survive long after we all are dust.

 

[IglooDame]

The difference is that humans are intelligent beings, asteroids arn't. Humans can choose NOT cause a mass extinction.

Hmmm... I've met a few humans that are as dumb as rocks, so maybe they're the ones involuntarily causing the mass extinctions.

 

[El_Machinae]

I would suspect so.

As well, there is an ecological balance that's required for our ecosystem to work properly. The hippos and polar bears are 'umbrella species' meaning that their deaths mean that something much greater is going on.

Natural Selection and evolution cannot possibly adapt and provide biodiversity at the rate we're consuming it. Abaddon mentions genetic wealth, which is true, but the biodiveristy is also balanced and we don't know what's important and what isn't.

 

[Narz]

Reminds me of the story The Giver, where children only knew of animals in their stuffed form (as plush toys).

 

[El_Machinae]

There's a term for something like that, where we don't notice long-term changes - so we don't care about glaciers retreating or coral reefs dying. We dont' remember when it was 'better' so we assume there's no problem.

 

[Narz]

There's a term for something like that, where we don't notice long-term changes - so we don't care about glaciers retreating or coral reefs dying. We dont' remember when it was 'better' so we assume there's no problem.

Right, it's probably like that with air quality too.

I grew up in New York City and it's suburbs so I had no real concept of "air pollution" until I traveled a bit and realized what a pleasure it is just to breathe in many other areas of the world (and many other parts of the US even).

 

[puglover]

I don't understand why I'm supposed to care.

 

[Sidhe]

Hippos kill more people every year then crockadiles. I say let 'em die.

Extinction is part of how the world works. Just look at the dinosaures. Not every animal will survive for ever. The world will balence itself out if one animal is gone another one will fill its place, adapt, and that is how evolution works......kinda.

By that logic we should kill all mosquitoes of the malaria carrying species just to be sure since they kill 1 million people per year and are the worlds most deadly animal by proxy. Of course we could destroy the parasite and not the mosquito and the same could be said with man and hippo. In this case just keeping the parasite informed may be better though(since most deaths occur because tourists equate hippos with cute Disney characters instead of 3 tonne two foot sabre weilding highly terratorial death machines) I'm undecided

I don't understand why I'm supposed to care.

I suspect sadly you never will.

 

[IglooDame]

I don't understand why I'm supposed to care.

Because if the hippos and polar bears go, pugs will be next.

 

[Narz]

I don't understand why I'm supposed to care.

Compassion maybe?

 

[El_Machinae]

I prefer to appeal to self-preservation. Since the fact that polar bears are in trouble means that trouble is around the bend for us