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Saturday, November 12, 2011

The Anthropocene Today

Posted by on Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 10:12 AM

You fought the good fight...

It’s a bleak month for rhinos. In less than 30 days, two subspecies have been declared extinct. The Atlantic reports that just a few weeks after the Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam was declared extinct, the West African black rhino, which haven’t been found since 2006, was officially marked down as extinct

You lost. You will, however, continue to exist on the web...

 

Comments (24) RSS

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onion 1
that's chinese medicine for ya! ancient knowledge! hope all those men with improved erections feel good about themselves. fucking absurd. extirpate a gem of nature for its ugly little worthless horn.
oh and trophy hunters. fuck you too.
Posted by onion on November 12, 2011 at 10:34 AM
Vince 2
I grieve for mankind.
Posted by Vince on November 12, 2011 at 10:39 AM
Fifty-Two-Eighty 3
Onion, while poaching undoubtedly played a role, the primary reason for this has been elimination of habitat. Oh, you can still blame mankind - just different ones.
Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty http://www.nra.org on November 12, 2011 at 10:55 AM
Frau Blucher 4
@2 - I completely agree with you.

I'm hoping that zoologist, or biologist, or whatever can save some form of DNA or sperm/egg to repopulate the species at a date when we're better able to do so.

Charles, any word of such a plan to be put into place?
Posted by Frau Blucher on November 12, 2011 at 10:55 AM
Supreme Ruler Of The Universe 5
Another top feeder gone.

Good riddance to them.

Message from the Food Chain.
Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe http://yrihf.com on November 12, 2011 at 11:14 AM
very bad homo 6
I hope they're not extinct, just hiding from humans.
Posted by very bad homo on November 12, 2011 at 11:19 AM
7
@2 I grieve for everything dying because of mankind.
Posted by shaneleopard on November 12, 2011 at 11:19 AM
Max Solomon 8
too many people.
Posted by Max Solomon on November 12, 2011 at 11:28 AM
Vince 9
These animals are little pieces of us, of who we are and how we got here, falling away. Are we bound to this destruction? I believe we are. Look at the extinctions we've already caused since the begining of our predations. Now we've added environmental destruction. It doesn't look good for our species and the animals are telling us.
Posted by Vince on November 12, 2011 at 11:57 AM
The Max 10
I'm not 100% certain, but I think we have one or two at Riverbanks Zoo right here in Columbia SC. I'm just about certain that our friend Diceros bicornis is now merely extinct in the wild (conservation status EW) so while hope is faint, it is not yet lost.
Posted by The Max on November 12, 2011 at 12:21 PM
Dudeilicous 11
I wish religious nuts and bigots would go extinct.
Posted by Dudeilicous on November 12, 2011 at 12:41 PM
12
@9 I think you are right. Not to be grim, but all species face extinction sooner or later. Conditions ultimately change to those not supporting a species' survival. It's just a pity that humanity is causing those conditions for itself and so much of the planet.
Posted by shaneleopard on November 12, 2011 at 12:43 PM
rob! 13
http://www.rhinos-irf.org/captive/

Captive-breeding and germplasm-storage programs are useful stopgaps, but habitat protection and restoration are still essential. A species minus its natural habitat is arguably not a species anymore, as it is removed from the environmental influences that created it and would otherwise continue to shape it through evolution. In addition, too small an effective breeding population (living, breathing animals + repositories of genetic material [frozen sperm and embryos] which can be "rotated" into the population) leads to loss of genetic diversity with concomitant increases in congenital defects and disease susceptibility.
Posted by rob! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZBdUceCL5U on November 12, 2011 at 12:59 PM
14
@8 Yep, but the Pope keeps on telling people in raggedy ass third world countries not to use condemns.
Posted by Ken Mehlman on November 12, 2011 at 1:06 PM
The Max 15
I dug a little deeper. It looks like it's just one of four subspecies of D. bicornis, the West African Black Rhinoceros, that seems to have taken the plunge into fossildom. There are about 3000 Black Rhinos left in the wild, with about 300 safely zooified.

The Javan Rhino? Apparently over and done.
Posted by The Max on November 12, 2011 at 1:18 PM
16
If you're keeping score, that's:
homo sapiens: 7 billion
Javan rhino: 0

I happen to agree with Vince @2 and shaneleopard @7. I grieve for the natural world being destroyed by humanity, and I grieve for humanity.
Posted by cressona on November 12, 2011 at 2:09 PM
17
It's all too easy to blame such developments on overpopulation.

It's all too easy to blame such developments on the fossil-fuel-intensive, massive-energy-footprint Western lifestyle.

It's all too easy to blame such developments on Asian nations' appetite for quack cures and exotic delicacies at the cost of the survival of endangered species.

But the painful truth is, it's really all of the above.
Posted by cressona on November 12, 2011 at 2:14 PM
The Dopest 18
Well, it sucks and I don't want to diminish the loss, but when you step back and look at it, this is they had a good run considering that humans had already exterminated most of the world's coolest animals (wooly rhinos, giant ground sloths, 2-ton armadillos?!) before entering the bronze age. Just the latest victim in an incredibly long line.
Posted by The Dopest on November 12, 2011 at 4:30 PM
19
As long as the Spearmint Rhino isn't extinct, I'll be okay.
Posted by Chali2Na on November 12, 2011 at 7:24 PM
Urgutha Forka 20
I desperately hope that humans kill themselves off... I would pay big money to have humanity exterminate itself. Seriously. I want humans to die. I want humanity to die. forever. Please die, fuckers. please die (yes, including myself. If I was the last human alive, i'd gladly exterminate myself. Please just give me the chance.).
Posted by Urgutha Forka on November 12, 2011 at 9:48 PM
Lord Humongus 21
Not to get all "market based solutions" on y'all but can't we get some Viagra to our friends in Asia? The quackery would seem to disappear when offered up against a proven pharm. kinda like the Fakir and Shaman find their raison de être threatened with the advent of the microscope and germ theory.
Posted by Lord Humongus on November 12, 2011 at 10:57 PM
22
@20 I don't want all humans to die, but it would be nice if people would have fewer babies and drive smaller cars.
Posted by Ken Mehlman on November 13, 2011 at 2:31 AM
venomlash 23
@5: Your posts just get nuttier and nuttier. You know that rhinos are not at the top of the food chain, right?
Posted by venomlash on November 13, 2011 at 5:14 PM
More, I Say! 24
@14, if that wasn't on purpose, that was a world-class typo.
Posted by More, I Say! on November 14, 2011 at 10:08 AM

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