What We’ve Lost: The Species Declared Extinct in 2020

[UngulateNerd92]

Dozens of frogs, fish, orchids and other species — many unseen for decades — may no longer exist due to humanity’s destructive effects on the planet.

A few months ago a group of scientists warned about the rise of “extinction denial,” an effort much like climate denial to mischaracterize the extinction crisis and suggest that human activity isn’t really having a damaging effect on ecosystems and the whole planet.

That damaging effect is, in reality, impossible to deny.

This past year scientists and conservation organizations declared that a long list of species may have gone extinct, including dozens of frogs, orchids and fish. Most of these species haven’t been seen in decades, despite frequent and regular expeditions to find out if they still exist. The causes of these extinctions range from diseases to invasive species to habitat loss, but most boil down to human behavior.

What We’ve Lost: The Species Declared Extinct in 2020 • The Revelator

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Sad to read through this list, the amount of plant and freshwater fish biodiversity that has disappeared is truly shocking

Some of these have likely been extinct for a number of decades like the Lorde Howe Island long eared bat, Bonin pipistrelle, Chiriqui harlequin frog, pass stub foot toad and the splendid poison frog. The latest confirmation doesn't really change much but make it official.

I wouldn't be suprised if some of these species mentioned in the article eventually get rediscovered turning out to be Lazarus species as this phenomenon does happen quite a lot.

Regarding the Simeulue Hill myna there is apparently a plan involving the Sumatran Orangutang Conservation Programe and several other organizations to obtain the species through confiscations from the illegal songbird trade and breed it ex-situ in a facility that is currently being constructed.

Simeulue Hill mynas