Having recently been reading through my copies of A Gap In Nature (Flannery, 2001) and various of the books by Errol Fuller on the subject of extinct species, I found myself reflecting on the idea that a challenge focused on the topic of extinction, and the now-lost taxa which survive only in natural history museums scattered throughout the world, would perhaps be of interest to the members of Zoochat.
This challenge, therefore, will hopefully both raise awareness of what we have already lost (and perhaps allow people to learn about species they had never heard of previously) and - bit by bit - form a useful catalogue of where exactly we can see the last remains of these gaps in the patchwork of nature.
My thinking is that this challenge will comprise two segments - the second theoretically has a completion state, although I suspect it will never be reached, whilst the first does not, and although I envision it continuing beyond this de-facto time limit if it is successful, I propose that the challenge will run until March 1st 2021 and will retrospectively be held to have started on the aforementioned date this year..... and yes, that means that if by chance you've seen qualifying material since the start of this month it *can* be counted.
So.... what are the two segments?
For the first sub-challenge, the format I am looking for in terms of posts is as follows:
1) Species name - Genus species (subspecies if relevant) - Location seen - Material seen
1) Quagga - Equus quagga quagga - Scottish National Museum - Taxidermy Mount
Duplicate taxa *are* allowed - we're aiming to promote where things are kept and displayed after all - but note that the remains have to be genuine and not artistic representations (as is the case with all "stuffed dodos") or plaster casts (as is the case with the dodo head and foot currently on-display in Oxford). The remains have to be seen on-display from a public area to count for the challenge, but any remains seen behind the scenes in museum tours or so forth can still be mentioned as an appendix to your totals. Otherwise, a few general rules:
1) Proof via photographs is not required.
2) Taxa which have been lost since c.1500 only; this means that the only moa taxon accepted is the Upland Moa, which is generally thought to have held on until around this time. No elephant birds or giant lemurs etc
3) Species whose continued existence is a matter of uncertainty will be allowed on a case-by-case basis; I'll say straight up that we will be counting Thylacine, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Pink-headed Duck and Eskimo Curlew, for instance.
4) Report/update your progress on this thread as you go along.
The second sub-challenge (prompted by the fact that Fuller's The Great Auk contains a complete listing of all known surviving Great Auk material) will be similar, but limited to that species only, and taxidermy mounts alone. As many of the extant specimens are not on public display, and the location of a few is now unknown, for this one we will permit specimens which anyone has been lucky enough to see behind the scenes.
This challenge, therefore, will hopefully both raise awareness of what we have already lost (and perhaps allow people to learn about species they had never heard of previously) and - bit by bit - form a useful catalogue of where exactly we can see the last remains of these gaps in the patchwork of nature.
My thinking is that this challenge will comprise two segments - the second theoretically has a completion state, although I suspect it will never be reached, whilst the first does not, and although I envision it continuing beyond this de-facto time limit if it is successful, I propose that the challenge will run until March 1st 2021 and will retrospectively be held to have started on the aforementioned date this year..... and yes, that means that if by chance you've seen qualifying material since the start of this month it *can* be counted.
So.... what are the two segments?
- Most representatives of extinct taxa seen in museums and other such collections BARRING GREAT AUK.
- Most taxidermy mounts of Great Auk seen.
For the first sub-challenge, the format I am looking for in terms of posts is as follows:
1) Species name - Genus species (subspecies if relevant) - Location seen - Material seen
1) Quagga - Equus quagga quagga - Scottish National Museum - Taxidermy Mount
Duplicate taxa *are* allowed - we're aiming to promote where things are kept and displayed after all - but note that the remains have to be genuine and not artistic representations (as is the case with all "stuffed dodos") or plaster casts (as is the case with the dodo head and foot currently on-display in Oxford). The remains have to be seen on-display from a public area to count for the challenge, but any remains seen behind the scenes in museum tours or so forth can still be mentioned as an appendix to your totals. Otherwise, a few general rules:
1) Proof via photographs is not required.
2) Taxa which have been lost since c.1500 only; this means that the only moa taxon accepted is the Upland Moa, which is generally thought to have held on until around this time. No elephant birds or giant lemurs etc
3) Species whose continued existence is a matter of uncertainty will be allowed on a case-by-case basis; I'll say straight up that we will be counting Thylacine, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Pink-headed Duck and Eskimo Curlew, for instance.
4) Report/update your progress on this thread as you go along.
The second sub-challenge (prompted by the fact that Fuller's The Great Auk contains a complete listing of all known surviving Great Auk material) will be similar, but limited to that species only, and taxidermy mounts alone. As many of the extant specimens are not on public display, and the location of a few is now unknown, for this one we will permit specimens which anyone has been lucky enough to see behind the scenes.
