If you look at it from a larger perspective, different ecological environments on the earth can provide a living home for different species. But if the environment changes and species can't keep up with the "trend", then they can only be eliminated by nature, which is the core of Darwin's theory of biological evolution. Only by better adapting to the living environment can we develop better.
According to the current scientific system, it is known that the Earth has been formed for 4.6 billion years, and life on the Earth has a 3.8 billion-year evolutionary history, and has experienced countless species extinction events along the way, and there are currently 5 large-scale species extinctions that can be found in science, the most recent of which occurred 65 million years ago. The dinosaurs, which once ruled the earth for 160 million years, went extinct when an asteroid with a diameter of 10 kilometers hit the earth.
But the earth's organisms are more tenacious, and there will be extinctions and the flourishing of species. Because the carrying capacity of the earth is so large, when there is a new species extinction, it will naturally vacate the corresponding ecological niche, such as the extinction of dinosaurs, bringing unprecedented development opportunities to mammals, of course, mammals also live up to expectations, and quickly occupy considerable resources and space.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the disappearance and reappearance of the thylacine</h1>
In recent years, with the changes in the earth's ecological environment, many species are facing the pressure of survival and reproduction and gradually going extinct, last month in the journal Frontiers of Conservation Science, a team of 17 world-renowned ecology and climatology experts published an article, they believe that the earth has entered the sixth era of mass extinction, by the end of this century 20% of existing species will face the threat of extinction.
Therefore, it can be said that the disappearance and extinction of species seems to have become the norm, such as the previous thylacine.
Thylacine is a member of the family Possumidae in biological taxonomy, similar in appearance to wild dogs, but with tiger-like markings, hence the name Tasmakya tiger. Marsupials are standard on mainland Australia, and thylacines are also the largest carnivorous marsupials in modern times. The overall length (including the tail) of the thylacine is 180 cm in adulthood, and the height of the shoulder is about 60 cm.
One of the biggest characteristics of the thylacine is that its mouth can be opened very widely, even up to 180 degrees, they often hide in the trees, wait for the prey to pass and quickly jump down, bite the head of the prey, it still sounds quite ferocious.
Unfortunately, the animal did not survive, and the last thylacine is recorded to have died in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1936, where there is a zoo called Bomaris, and they have never been alive since. In the picture below is a precious image of the last thylacine.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > but in recent years, thylacines have been recorded in many sightings, are they not extinct? </h1>
Since the disappearance of the thylacine in 1936, the Australian Rare Animal Society has received more than 4,000 eyewitness reports, all of which are fake.
But several sightings in the last five years have caught the attention of scientists, with eight suspected thylacine sightings recorded in three years from 2016 to 2019, according to documents disclosed by Australia's Rare Animals Association. In particular, in September 2016, local residents of South Australia found a suspected thylacine creature in the back garden of their home, and quickly fled after seeing the person.
And the time to 2021, not long ago, an animal expert, in the northeast of the Tasmanian unit found a thylacine-like creature, the picture can see a wolf-like animal running by, the relevant experts believe that it is likely to find a family of thylacines, because the video is filmed in a juvenile animal.
Of course, only with these vague and unclear image data, it is difficult to determine the "lost and recovered" of a species, scientifically speaking, it is necessary to have evidence of hair, feces and even live bodies, but similar evidence has not been found in 85 years, just a large number of blurry image data.
Why did < h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > disappeared species? </h1>
On February 24, 2021, a team of ornithologists published a paper in the journal BirdingAsia, in which they analyzed and identified a small bird caught by local residents of Borneo, Indonesia, and believed that it was likely to be a black-browed harrier, which has not been detected by humans for more than 170 years, and once thought that they had long been extinct.
In fact, coupled with the Fernandina giant tortoise that disappeared for more than 100 years before extinction, and the reappearance of the white-throated buzzard that became extinct 136,000 years ago, coupled with the dry rhododendron found in Sichuan, China, which has disappeared for nearly 90 years, etc., many species that have disappeared for decades have reappeared recently.
In fact, we are all very aware that these disappearing and reappearing species are likely to have not been detected due to their scarcity at the time, and when the living environment became better, their numbers increased, so they only appeared in recent years. In any case, the reappearance of species that once disappeared is something to celebrate.
Text/science black hole, image source network intrusion deletion.