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Post by mburns on Aug 25, 2008 18:31:58 GMT
I made the comment to my friend that species are becoming extinct "every day". He doesn't believe me.... I wondering if anyone has some examples of things that have become extinct as recently as this year?
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Post by Peter on Aug 26, 2008 19:11:34 GMT
Personally I can't tell you a certain species that became extinct this year. Luckily. If truly a species becomes extinct daily is hard to say. Because they mean with that usually species that are yet unknown to science! There are many different estimates. Truth is that many species and subspecies are missing! But currently scientists don't have the resources to search in their previous distribution ranges. So some of them may be surviving somewhere and some may be lost forever! The lastest recognised extinction I know of is that of the Madeiran Large White ( Pieris brassicae wollastoni), which was declared extinct at 29-30 October 2007. Scientists have searched for 15 years for this butterfly, but could not find it anymore. So it might have become extinct earlier, we often just don't know the exact date. On my website you can find a list of extinctions in the past years (though incomplete). extinctanimals.petermaas.nl, maybe you can show your friend this website. Than he may be shocked how maby have become extinct in de past decades and centuries. But it will be hard to prove species become extinct daily, as there is no hard evidence for it. They are estimates and they differ. So maybe it is true, but maybe it is not. We can't tell. Here some comments on extinction rates that can be found on the internet: www.rainforestweb.org/Rainforest_Information/Species_Extinction/forests.org/archive/general/coolfact.htmBut even if species don't become extinct daily, every species lost is terrible, even if it is only one yearly or in a longer period. Peter
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