HUMAN ACTIVITY AND ANIMAL EXTINCTIONS
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a global organization engaged in the area of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. The IUCN Global Species Program has worked in cooperation with the IUCN Species Survival Commission to gauge the conservation status of species, sub-species, diversities, and selected sub-populations on an international scale for the past 50 years for the purpose of highlighting taxa (the plural form of taxon) threatened with extinction, in order to advocate and bolster their conservation.
“The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on plants, fungi and animals that have been globally evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.” (iucnredlist.org: Introduction)
BELOW ARE IUCN RED LIST CATEGORIES: NOTE CATEGORIES ONE THROUGH SEVEN FOLLOW A GRADATION PATTERN BEGINNING WITH THE DIREST CIRCUMSTANCE TO THE LEAST. NUMBER 8 MAY FALL SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE:
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) is a global agreement between governments, adherence is voluntary; nations that have consented to be bound by the convention are referred to as Parties. CITES objective and desire is to make sure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants will not threaten their survival.
The Holocene Extinction also called the Sixth Great Extinction is a name for the ongoing extinction crisis of many animal species amidst the Holocene Epoch. The Holocene Epoch began between 12,000 to 11,500 years ago at the close of the Palaeolithic Ice Age. Somewhere between 20,000 and hundreds of thousands of species, including plants and animals have been lost during the last 12,000 years.
The Holocene extinction contains two surges (pulses), one surge 13,000 to 9,000 years ago, during the closing of the last glacial period, wherein a considerable amount of mega fauna went extinct. A second surge, beginning in the mid-20th century was to a greater part induced by human activities, wherein large- scale deforestation and other human activities have brought about the extinction of a multitude of species.
“Animal species extinct from the first pulse of the Holocene extinction include several species of mammoth, the dire wolf, short-faced bear, cave lion, cave bear, cave hyena, dwarf elephants, giant swan, giant rat, mastodon, American cheetah, ground sloths, marsupials of many species, numerous giant flightless birds, and many other animals.” (wisegeek.com: What is the Holocene Extinction Event?)
The major difference between the Sixth Great Extinction and the first five including the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, Late Devonian extinction, Permian-Triassic extinction, Explanatory theories, Triassic-Jurassic extinction and Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, is that the former is, largely anthropogenic-induced. Even large-scale conventional wars have an adverse effect on the affected area, the environment, and numerous species. Historically, the introduction of humans into an area dealt a death knell to a few or a multitude of species. This book will deal with contemporary and relatively recent animal extinctions, near extinctions, and atrocities.
The Atlas bear was the only bear native to Africa that existed into modern times. It once inhabited the Atlas Mountains and nearby areas, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. In 1840, an officer from the English military named Crowther made known the existence of the Atlas bear to the western world, resulting in the bear’s induction into the scientific world. It was the Swiss naturalist, Heinrich Rudolph Schinz, made the sub-species classification of the Atlas bear (Ursos Arctos Crowtheri) in 1844.
The Atlas bear was chestnut or blackish-brown in colour its fur was 4 or 5 inches long, with red-orange coloured fur on its under-belly. The muzzle and claws were not as prominent as those of the American Black bear were. This bear probably weighed around 1,000 lbs. (450 kg.), and was predominately herbivorous (Roots, acorns, nuts).
Initially, the major cause of the major decrease of the Atlas bear population was the spread of the Roman Empire into Africa. Large-scale unchecked hunting and the capturing of individuals for the coliseum events, in which bears were pit up against gladiators, criminals, defenceless humans, or other animals, coliseum animals were treated quite harshly abused and not fed well before the events.
The advent of primitive firearms continued the onslaught against the Atlas bears but beginning in the mid-19th century the appearance of better hunting rifles in particular the repeating rifle guaranteed the death knell for this beautiful animal. The last known Atlas bear was sighted in 1870 in Morocco, note that although a 2016 purported sighting and filming of a supposed live Atlas bear in the forest of Tissemsilt was made more proof is needed to substantiate this claim. As is the case with many extinct species, numerous claims of sightings are made a sizeable portion of which are mistakes, yearnings, or outright lies, we must wait to see if solid evidence is publicly presented.
The Auroch (Bos primigenius) was a type of large-breed cow that became extinct in the 1620s in Poland. Aurochs were very large post-glacial herbivores, once found in Asia, Europe, and North Africa. The Pliocene epoch, bringing in cold weather initiated a large growth of open grasslands, aiding the evolution of large grazers like wild bulls and cows.
Aurochs were tall, had massive forward-curving horns that intimidated even the most ferocious of predators. Their legs were longer and slimmer than contemporary cattle breeds. Furthermore, they had larger heads than the majority of contemporary cattle breeds; adult bulls had chocolate or black coat colour, while cows were rusty coloured, muzzles were light- coloured for both genders. Auroch bulls were considerably more aggressive than bulls of today.
Nonetheless, their aggressiveness could not protect them from human activities, in particular, habitat encroachment due to farming, rampant unchecked hunting (if given a chance aurochs would try to fight back), and the transmission of new diseases via domestic cattle. By the 5th century B.C., there were no more Aurochs in southern Greece, and by the 13-century C.E., they were restricted to a few countries in Europe.
Aurochs are so awe-inspiring that several attempts were made at species back breeding. In the 1930s, famed Nazi Hermann Goering asked geneticists Heinz and Lutz Heck to bring back the Auroch through genetic engineering of its ancestors.
Each of the Heck brothers worked alone, crossing Spanish fighting bulls with Highland bulls, along with primeval breeds from Corsica and Hungary, attaining Nazi Super Cattle, used as tools of propaganda during the Second World War. The sheer power and aggressiveness of the bulls were supposed to signify the strength of the Nazi Party. Nevertheless, the Nazi Super Cattle did not equal the size of Aurochs; in fact, they only equalled the size of their contemporary counterparts.
"There was thinking that you could selectively breed animals – and indeed people – for 'Aryan' characteristics, which were rooted in runes, folklore and legend. What the Germans did with their breeding programme was create something truly primeval ... The reason the Nazis were so supportive of the project is they wanted them to be fierce and aggressive. When the Germans were selecting them to create this animal they used Spanish fighting cattle to give them the shape and ferocity they wanted," said Derek Gow, a Devonshire, England farmer. (By Hannah Osborne, January 6, 2015; ibtimes.co.uk: Aurochs: How Hitler and Goering resurrected extinct species to make 'Nazi super cows')
Devonshire farmer Derek Gow knows very well how aggressive genetically altered bulls can become. He had to put down all of his bulls save two, and four cows from a herd. Individuals were so aggressive they would attempt to attack a human when possible, attempting to kill them. Worse yet, they made the rest of the herd more aggressive. The good news is that after the aggressive bulls and cows were killed the rest of the herd returned to a state of relative calm. Gow admits that he has never worked with animals that were so aggressive.
It may still be possible to return the Aurochs in a genetic sense but great care must be taken to control their destructive aggression. The Taurus Program, a combination of ecologists, geneticists, historians, and cattle breeders supported by Stitchting Taurus, a Dutch foundation that uses large cattle and horse breeds, grazing under natural circumstances for nature conservation.
The idea behind the Taurus Program is to restore the Aurochs through crossbreeding of contemporary cattle in a process known as back breeding. Laboratory genetic-based engineering is not obligatory. Cattle breeds used will have physical characteristics similar to Aurochs. The project began in 2008, with seven variations crossed.
“What you see already in the second generation is that the coloration of the animal is very aurochs-like. The bulls are black and have an eel stripe [along the spine]. They {are} already higher on the legs. What’s more complicated is the size and shape of the horns. I would say that in some cases you could see an individual animal is 75 percent of where we need to get at. We think {that} in six {or} seven generations we will get a stabilized group of Taurus cattle. That will take us another seven to 10 years," said Ronald Goderie, an ecologist who directs the Taurus Project and co-author of the book The Aurochs: Born to Be Wild. (By Jackson Landers, April 4 {year not given}, washingtonpost.com: Scientists Seek to Resurrect the Aurochs, the Extinct Beast that Inspired Cave Paintings)
The Baiji or Yangtze River dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer; dubbed ‘Goddess of the Yangtze’) is a functionally extinct species (Under this context: Either there are no individuals left or the number is so small that they cannot survive and flourish) of freshwater dolphin previously found along a long stretch of the Yangtze River, China. In 2006, a thorough 6-week search for the Baiji in the Yangtze River conducted by scientists came up with nothing.
"It's possible that we missed one or two animals [during the search], but we can say the baiji is functionally extinct. If there are any baiji left in the river, they won't have any chance of survival ... When we started, we were really optimistic about finding them, but as each day went by it became increasingly clear that there are no baiji left," said August Pfluger, a Swiss economist-turned-naturalist who financed the expedition. (By Stefan Lovgren for National Geographic News, December 14, 2006; nationalgeographic.com: China's Rare River Dolphin Now Extinct, Experts Announce)
Baiji had a streamlined body, round flippers, and probably spent much of their time underwater to aid them in communication (clicks and whistles) and orientation, their vision was weak and their snouts