The Loneliest Animals

A few days ago I happened to catch an episode of Nature - The Loneliest Animals on PBS (public television broadcasting). It was a fascinating show about the most endangered animals on the planet. Many of them are already extinct in the wild with captive breeding being the slimmest of slim hopes of their survival. One giant tortoise named Lonesome George is thought to be the last living creature of his particular species. When he dies they will be no more. How sad is that?Another couple, one male and one female, of Rafetus soft shelled turtles, are the last two of their kind. Once abundant in the rivers of China they were over-fished to the very brink of extinction. As well, pollution of their river habitat contributed to their decline. Their last hope is trying to restart their species from just these two. An extreme long shot at best. But, as one interviewee said, you have to try no matter how slim the chances are. And the chances of their survival is overwhelmingly slim.

Captive breeding can work in some instances. They have brought some animal species back from the perilous edge to just a "dangerously low" number. But, to really have a chance at success we have to stop destroying their habitat. In some cases humans clear cut massive swaths of forest for timber. In other cases it might be mining or clearing land for farms. In the case of the Rafetus turtles (above) we have to curb our pollution of the once pristine rivers that were so common less than a century ago. Even if we manage to successfully breed animals in captivity, but have no place to release them the project is doomed to failure in the end.

Wiping out species has a wide ranging, ripple effect. Not only are the particular animals lost, but the eco-system they were living in changes as a whole. Say, you lose a top predator in a certain eco-system. Then you may have an overabundance of prey animal such as deer that strip surrounding vegetation. That, in turn, may reduce the nesting habitat for birds, which will effectively increase the population of insects they consume, etc., etc.. There's a natural balance that has to be kept so that everything, humans included, can live a thriving, abundant life. We can be so shortsighted that way.

Stop over-fishing, over-hunting, over-trapping... for food, medicine, pets, ivory or whatever. Respect the earth we live on. Stop stripping it of it's natural resources at a rate that it can't recover quickly enough from.

I'll end with a fitting quote from Agent Smith to Morpheus from The Matrix film:

Agent Smith: I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague...

I'd suggest watching the program if you can. You can click on the link here.