Extinct And Endangered

animal_expert01 said:
Not entirely sure about megatherium but glyptodonts did not go extinct because of humans. They went extinct because there grassland and marsh habitats were taken over by the Amazon rainforest.
Click to expand...
what about the glyptodonts in southern South America, or the ones in North America? Were their habitats taken over by rainforest there as well?
 
"Their" =/= "There"

And it's still an ongoing debate about paleontologists whether climate change + human "interaction" (i.e. hunting) wiped out glyptodonts as well as other megafauna species as part of the quaternary extinction event...
 
If I'm limited to five, I'd largely go for species which went extinct in the Holocene and would rank high on the EDGE species list if still extant due to the amount of evolutionary history they represent. At the very least, they should be monotypic within their own subfamily. I also have a bias against animals larger than I am, however the first two items on this list overcome that bias by being sufficiently fascinating in other ways.
  1. Meiolania platyceps (last surviving stem turtle from New Caledonia)
  2. Macrauchenia sp. (the last surviving genus of lipoterns from South America)
  3. Hog-nosed bandicoot (most basal member of the bandicoot/bilby order)
  4. Hawai'i o'o (most impressive-looking representative of an entire family of birds which went extinct after Europeans arrived)
  5. Dodo (I kind of wanted to go with the Choiseul crested pigeon, but while its placement is unresolved it appears to have a fairly close living relative. The dodo would revive an entire subfamily and had an unusual ecology.)
 
- Ivory-billed woodpecker (probably extinct)
- Caribbean monk seal
- Pyrenean ibex
- Javan tiger
- Asiatic ostrich
- Hokkaido wolf
- Caucasian wisent
 
Thylacine
Qugga
Caspian Tiger
Carribbean monk seal
Moa
Huia

Could probably think of at least 20 more I'd like to add. Great idea for a thread. :)
 
animalszoos said:
- Ivory-billed woodpecker (probably extinct)
- Caribbean monk seal
- Pyrenean ibex
- Javan tiger
- Asiatic ostrich
- Hokkaido wolf
- Caucasian wisent
Click to expand...
This is a good list. How about the Imperial woodpecker as well? They are/were much like the ivory bill but even bigger.
 
1: Mauritius blue pigeon
2: Round island burrowing boa
3: Giant Aye-Aye
4: Hippopotamus madagascariensis
5: St. Helena olive tree
 
I'm thinking of these species:

1: Macrauchenia.
2. Thylacine.
3. Quagga.
4. Great auk.
5. Dodo.

-:cool::cool:TheWalrus:cool::cool:
 
Realistically, I'd have to go with some recently extinct species, since long-extinct species might not even be able to survive in the modern day environments...

1. Caribbean monk seal. Because Texas isn't much for marine mammal viewing (most of them hang out in deeper water, mocking me) and I'd like to be able to view seals without having to drive for 15 hours.
2. Steller's sea cow. It's a 30 foot long dugong, how cool would that be?
3. Thylacine, because it's such a unique animal.
4. Giant moa. I just think they're neat.
5. Ugh, tough choice between the warrah and the baiji. I've been reading Witness to Extinction and its got me fascinated with the baiji, but I dunno if we could expect good conservation measures to be in place to ensure its survival. People knew that it was in trouble for years but hardly anything was done.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
1. Asian giant pangolin Manis palaeojavanica - Because pangolins are awesome at the best of times, so scaling one up to the size of a man makes it considerably more awesome
Click to expand...

Whoa, whoa, whoa... How did I not know that giant pangolins were a thing? And more importantly, why are people so obsessed with cloning mammoths when we could work on cloning GIANT PANGOLINS?
 
I also was unaware of extinct Asian giant pangolins, I just knew the current living giant pangolins (from Africa). Of course, for me mammooths, gianth sloths or bear-sized beavers are muuuuuch more cool than an animal of a genus with living relatives :)
 
The Steller's Sea Cow would be a top choice for a "resurrection", but I think that the main motive behind that wouldn't be the idealistic one most of you favour: commercial harvest. With a constantly growing global human population, the drive to optimize the commercial utilization of all areas of the world increases. The icy shores and islands of the NW Pacific aren't optimal for productive industrial livestock farming or crop cultivation. The commercial farming of a huge, artificially (re)created mammal, however, that is well adopted to the harsh local weather and uses the local kelp forests for nutrition might be a novel, profitable business. According to Steller and other contemporary witnesses, the meat of the sea cow was quite tasty, which also prompted their extinction. Granted, I'm not the first one to come up with this idea, but you have to admit that if there's money to make, people with deep pockets are more likely to invest. For that very reason, Chinese businessmen would probably also invest in the recreation of Manis palaeojavanica to deliver more pangolin products to the market...
 
Interestingly, there was a project few years ago to clone Aurochsen in Poland. I don't know what came out of it, probably small scale work on Aurochs remains and cattle genetics. Of course, it is not possible at the normal budget (a question of scale).
 
Batto said:
The Steller's Sea Cow would be a top choice for a "resurrection", but I think that the main motive behind that wouldn't be the idealistic one most of you favour: commercial harvest. With a constantly growing global human population, the drive to optimize the commercial utilization of all areas of the world increases. The icy shores and islands of the NW Pacific aren't optimal for productive industrial livestock farming or crop cultivation. The commercial farming of a huge, artificially (re)created mammal, however, that is well adopted to the harsh local weather and uses the local kelp forests for nutrition might be a novel, profitable business. According to Steller and other contemporary witnesses, the meat of the sea cow was quite tasty, which also prompted their extinction. Granted, I'm not the first one to come up with this idea, but you have to admit that if there's money to make, people with deep pockets are more likely to invest. For that very reason, Chinese businessmen would probably also invest in the recreation of Manis palaeojavanica to deliver more pangolin products to the market...
Click to expand...

But if they're anything like modern sirenians, they may not breed in captivity, and it would probably be too expensive to produce more artificially.

Just as well, I think the future of meat lies in lab-grown meat. Since we're on the subject, most of the discussion around lab-grown meat is how it will be better for the environment and how animals won't have to suffer, but a less discussed implication is the different types of meat that could be made available. People could try stuff that would normally be illegal or impractical or against their personal ethics/comfort. Like manatee, or hummingbird, or panda. I wonder if extinct species meat could be grown? I'd totally be down for trying mammoth.
 
The most commonly kept sirenia species, the West Indian manatee, does reproduce more or less regularily in European ex-situ husbandries. Keeping the Steller sea cow in-situ would probably also improve productivity. Given the long gestation periods of sirenias, however, Steller sea cow steaks would probably be more exclusive "slow" than fast food - i.e. marine kobe wagyu. And somehow, I could imagine Russian oligarchs buying it just for the exclusiveness.
I agree in regard to the future possibility of lab-grown meat.
 
DragonDust101 said:
Hello fellow Zoochatters,

In honor of the fact that pandas are no longer endangered, I'd like to ask you guys that if you could bring 5 species/subspecies of animals back from extinction, which would they be?

Mine would be
Barbary Lions
Atlas Bear
Quagga
Mexican Grizzly Bear
Haast's Eagles
And Moas
Click to expand...
How far back in time are alotting bc if that' the case I'll just I can be specific then
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top