When it comes to biological extinction, many friends may first think of dinosaurs.
Even if you think back to some of the animals that have recently gone extinct, such as the familiar dodo, are more than 300 years old.
This has also led many friends to produce a kind of biological extinction caused by natural disasters or the inaction of people in the past. Modern people pay great attention to environmental protection, and in the past decade or so, there will never be a misconception that organisms will become extinct again.
Today, I will not talk about ten years, but only about the creatures that have declared extinction in the past year (2019).
According to the latest statistics, about twenty species of organisms were declared extinct (or close to extinction) in 2019, of course, only some of them were officially named by scientists. The vast majority of extinctions occurred in species that have not been formally observed or named.
These plants and animals typically live in extremely narrow habitats and are therefore particularly vulnerable to habitat destruction, pollution, extreme weather events, invasive species, or other threats. Of course, 90% of these effects are caused by human activities.
1. Hawaiian snails
Chinese name: Elegant Hawaiian snail
Scientific name: Achatinella decora
Species: Terrestrial snails
Region: Endemic to Hawaii
In 2019, when the last Hawaiian snail named "The Last George" (look at the unlucky name) died, the researchers officially declared the graceful Hawaiian tree snail officially extinct on Earth.
In studying the causes of snail extinction, scientists have found that in addition to the common causes, there are some very nonsensical factors.
In the former Hawaii, it was probably due to the negligence of customs inspections, which was brought into a kind of snail from another country by outsiders (below). Commonly known as the African giant snail, these snails each weigh nearly two pounds (about 0.9 kilograms) and are up to 15 centimeters long.
This African giant snail is a delicacy on the table of the Nigerian people, but if no one in the local area likes to eat it and let it grow wildly, the result will be terrible.
This type of snail is very destructive and can eat more than 500 species of plants. If fruits and vegetables cannot be found, they will even devour the paint and stucco on the exterior walls of the house, and they are not picky eaters anyway.
In addition to its destructive power, this snail also has an amazing reproductive ability. Someone has done experiments with three (multiplayer sports?). The African giant snail has bred more than 17,000 offspring in three years, and each female snail can lay 1,200 eggs a year.
You think you can be raw and eat, and the crops in Hawaii at that time were all damaged. In this case, local experts have come up with a safe and environmentally friendly way to eliminate this foreign giant snail. That is to continue to ask for foreign aid.
They brought to Hawaii a snail called the rose acorn snail, which is best at preying on other snails and mollusks. Experts hope to be able to control the population of the alien species African giant snail through snails.
As a result, the number of giant snails was not controlled, and the number of Hawaiian snails mentioned above was sharply reduced by the number of snails it ate.
2. Knott's leaf picker
【Chinese name】Knott's leaf picker
Philydor novaesi
Alagoas Foliage-gleaner
It is said that this bird can only be seen in the jungles of Brazil, and later because of the pursuit of economic benefits in Brazil, trees were cut down and charcoal was burned. Then the act of converting woodland into arable land, causing the bird to lose its familiar habitat, eventually led to its demise.
3. Spotted stone dragon lizard
In 1887, the British zoologist Brunger discovered a slender New Zealand lizard, which he named oligosoma infrapunctatum.
This lizard prefers to live in shrubs and trees and is adept at using its robust tail to assist in its rapid movements. As the local population carried out livestock breeding such as deer breeding and dairy cattle, the living range of the spotted stone dragon lizard was continuously reduced, which eventually led to its extinction.
4. Coral naked-tailed rat
Chinese name: Coral naked-tailed rat
Classification: Mammals - Rodents - Rodents - Rodents - Rodents subfamily
Distribution area: Near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
In 1845, British sailors first spotted the little guy while resupplying. If it weren't for its red hair and bulging little nose, the crew would have noticed the difference. It is quite possible that the first discovered naked-tailed coral rat will be disposed of by sailors as ordinary rats.
In recent years, due to human activities and storm surges brought about by extreme weather events, about 97% of the land vegetation where coral naked-tailed rats live has been affected.
Although the Australian government introduced a corresponding conservation plan in 08, it did not attract enough attention, they believe that climate change is unlikely to pose too much threat to the survival of coral naked-tailed rats, underestimating the risk of extinction of coral naked-tailed rats. This also makes people miss the opportunity to save this creature one last time.
5. Katarina River Giant Medaka
The fish once lived in a stream in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leo because of the misuse of groundwater coupled with the invasion of alien species. Since 1994, naturalists have not systematically documented this medaka. When the last medaka died in Dallas, the IUCN declared it extinct in 2019.
6. White sturgeon
Scientific name: Psephurus gladius
Other names: Chinese spoon sturgeon, Chinese swordfish, elephant fish
The Yangtze River white sturgeon is a rare animal unique to China, which is a national first-class wild protected animal and is known as the "giant panda in the water". Although it is called the "giant panda in the water", it itself receives far less attention than a real national treasure.
Due to overfishing and habitat environmental pollution, the Yangtze River white sturgeon, which once talked and laughed with dinosaurs, was officially declared extinct on December 23, 2019.
7. Robber frog
According to eyewitness feedback, the last appearance of the robber frog was in Honduras. Ironically, the frog, which was named a robber by humans, eventually perished because of the endless plundering of nature by the namers.
8. Martens tree hunting finches
The Martens tree retriever, also known as the Hidden Tree Retriever, is a species of finch endemic to Brazil. Because of local agricultural production and timber harvesting, forest habitats are destroyed, which also seriously threatens their living environment and eventually becomes extinct.
9. Cali little silver man fish
A freshwater fish that lives in Mexico, it is said that no trace of this Mexican freshwater fish has been found since 1957. Nowadays, people can only recall what this silver fish looked like through concept maps and its close relatives. The IUCN officially declared its extinction in 2019.
10. Waldren Red Colobus Monkey
Name: Waldron Red Colobus Monkey
Scientific name: Piliocolobus waldronae
Nickname: Miss Watton Red Colobus Monkey
The Waldron red colobus monkey was discovered by Mr. Lowe in December 1933, and generally whoever discovers a new species is named after the discoverer. Lowe did not know why he had given the monkey the name of Miss Watton, who was investigating together, which is where the name Miss Watton Red Colobus Monkey comes from. I think maybe this is the romance of a scientist.
Red colobus monkeys inhabit subtropical and tropical dry forests and swamps. It inhabits the upper and middle layers of the forest and rarely comes to the surface. The red colobus monkey is a social animal, and in general a family of red colobus monkeys usually consists of 8-15 monkeys, usually consisting of an adult male, several females (multi-sporting) and their children who are not yet independent.
Several females will jointly feed the young monkeys in the family, the male will leave the family independently until adulthood, and the female will remain in the family.
With the continuous destruction of the forest by humans, the living environment of the Waldrun red colobus monkey is deteriorating day by day. Statistics say the last time people saw the monkeys went back 40 years. Although there are still scientists who believe that there are adult male monkeys who have left the forest still live in a certain forest. But organizations still announced in 2019 that the Waldron red colobus monkey was officially extinct.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the end</h1>
Due to space limitations, only 10 species were listed above that were declared extinct in 2019. That's only a small fraction of all the extinct creatures of 19 years.
In fact, as far as I am concerned, I did not expect that so many creatures have been declared extinct in the past year. Until then, I had always thought that extinction was a very distant thing, but the list of living cases of declaring extinction made me realize that it was actually very close to us.
Ordinary people like me cannot rush to the front line of protecting organisms like those experts and scholars. All I can do is do a good job of daily garbage sorting, choose more public travel to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other small things that I can.
I hope that the small things I do with my hands can make the earth's environment a little better and give the experts more time to save. I also hope that the creatures we can see with our own eyes will not only appear in photos in the future.