What's the obsession with animals going extinct?

[JTsyo]

Why do people get worked up about animals going extinct? That's just the way things work. I understand concern about us affecting the environment in such a way that endangers species but others are just not fit to survive. What brings this up is I saw a documentary on Death Valley and this fish that lives in the aquifers. This fish is from the ice ages and now there's only about 200 of them left. It seems like they weren't able to adapt to the changes to their environment and are headed for extinction.

 

[bonkers325]

because people want future generations to know what said animals tasted like. you cant eat an extinct animal!

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: bonkers325
because people want future generations to know what said animals tasted like. you cant eat an extinct animal!

this

 

[GoPackGo]

The same humans that are trying to save animals from extinction are the same ones that believe in evolution and that the earth is billions of years old.

These same humans know that millions of species have gone extinct in the past.

These same humans are so arrogant that they think that they can stop it now in the future.

If they succeed, natural evolution will be forever skewed.

 

[Modeps]

We feel that in many cases we are the cause of their extinction.

 

[alien42]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo
The same humans that are trying to save animals from extinction are the same ones that believe in evolution and that the earth is billions of years old.

These same humans know that millions of species have gone extinct in the past.

These same humans are so arrogant that they think that they can stop it now in the future.

If they succeed, natural evolution will be forever skewed.

i bet you dont have any brain cells left after that mindblowing post. why dont you try posting your viewpoint instead of insinuating others.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Modeps
We feel that in many cases we are the cause of their extinction.

Correct.


That and look howe many drugs have come from animals/plants etc... that help us live longer and better. That fish the OP talked about could hold the cure or at leats treatment for something but once its gone so are any thing that would come from it.


Heck one of the top MS drugs comes from a chinese hamsters ovary cell.

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: Modeps
We feel that in many cases we are the cause of their extinction.

Correct.


That and look howe many drugs have come from animals/plants etc... that help us live longer and better. That fish the OP talked about could hold the cure or at leats treatment for something but once its gone so are any thing that would come from it.


Heck one of the top MS drugs comes from a chinese hamsters ovary cell.

Yea but there's no way anyone is going to be doing testing on an endangered species to see if they have any uses.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: JTsyo

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: Modeps
We feel that in many cases we are the cause of their extinction.

Correct.


That and look howe many drugs have come from animals/plants etc... that help us live longer and better. That fish the OP talked about could hold the cure or at leats treatment for something but once its gone so are any thing that would come from it.


Heck one of the top MS drugs comes from a chinese hamsters ovary cell.

Yea but there's no way anyone is going to be doing testing on an endangered species to see if they have any uses.

He was only citing an example. Thankfully, there are folks who have a moral/educational sense to protect life that we are causing to become extinct.

 

[ahurtt]

Do a little googling on the importance of biodiversity in an ecosystem. That should answer your question. It's more than just "I want my children to be able to enjoy it too." Here's a place to start:

http://www.globalissues.org/En...diversity/WhoCares.asp

The reasons range from the practical to the ethical.

 

[nakedfrog]

Butterfly effect?

 

[Slick5150]

This is a rather large difference between a species naturally going extinct and a species going extinct because we want to put a Wal-Mart on its habitat.

 

[iroast]

There is a type of fruiting tree on Mauritius Island that is going extinct. They believe that the dodo was the only animal helping to spread the seeds from the fallen fruits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tambalacoque

 

[shortylickens]

You dont realize it until you study biology and the earth but our planet has a delicate balance. Mother nature spent a long time making up all these nifty little plants and animals and (up until humans fucked with it) the balance was pretty decent. The cycle of life is very important to humans as well as animals and we cant let something slip away which might be providing a key role in that cycle.

Along those lines many groups fight the destruction of the jungles and the pollution of the ocean. Both of those things provide a fair amount of rain and oxygen to the world and if we destroy too much we might not get it back.

Also I have to agree that mother nature can and should wipe out any species that isnt fit to survive on its own. But humans have been doing many unnatural things throughout the industrialization of the 20th century and mother nature didnt plan on them.

 

[MetalMat]

We are taking up their habitat. We have one earth to live on, lets not fvck it up.

 

[Excelsior]

But humans have been doing many unnatural things throughout the industrialization of the 20th century and mother nature didnt plan on them.

I know its been said before...but humans are natural. How can we really do anything that is considered unnatural? How did "mother nature" plan on anything happening?

We have advanced to where we are today because of nature. And that delicate balance..well...the Earth doesn't care about us. If we all vanished today it would continue doing its thing and eventually forget about us.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: JTsyo
Why do people get worked up about animals going extinct? That's just the way things work. I understand concern about us affecting the environment in such a way that endangers species but others are just not fit to survive. What brings this up is I saw a documentary on Death Valley and this fish that lives in the aquifers. This fish is from the ice ages and now there's only about 200 of them left. It seems like they weren't able to adapt to the changes to their environment and are headed for extinction.

Yes, why bother feeling guilty about causing the extinction of animals that have been a part of the ecosystem for hundreds of thousands of years.

Ouch, a bee stung me. Let's wipe them all out!!! :|

 

[PottedMeat]

Besides liking the biodiversity aspect, there are always things that we can discover that we can exploit.

Except Mosquitoes. They can all die.

 

[vi edit]

On my list of things I care about....

Animals going extinct actually ranks a few places above starving kids in Africa.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

entire ecosystems can be devastated by the extinction of only one stabilizing species.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: JTsyo
Why do people get worked up about animals going extinct? That's just the way things work. I understand concern about us affecting the environment in such a way that endangers species but others are just not fit to survive. What brings this up is I saw a documentary on Death Valley and this fish that lives in the aquifers. This fish is from the ice ages and now there's only about 200 of them left. It seems like they weren't able to adapt to the changes to their environment and are headed for extinction.

Because the current biodiversity is the result of 3.5 billion years of evolution of life one arth. Eliminating a species is a big deal. I have no idea why you think current extinction rate is natural. Human activity has accelerated the extinction rate is many orders of magnitude greater than the natural rate. This kind of mass extinction hasn't occurred since the cataclysm that wiped out the dinosaurs.

 

[iroast]

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Besides liking the biodiversity aspect, there are always things that we can discover that we can exploit.

Except Mosquitoes. They can all die.

They are useful as food to fish, insects and other critters. Cane toads in Australia can die off there. They were introduced by humans and have been eating their way to the top of the food chain...

 

[eits]

there's a huge difference between humans putting animals into extinction needlessly versus animals going extinct due to natural causes or being extinct by a natural predator as food.

 

[badkarma1399]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
This is a rather large difference between a species naturally going extinct and a species going extinct because we want to put a Wal-Mart on its habitat.

I agree with this statement.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: iroast

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Besides liking the biodiversity aspect, there are always things that we can discover that we can exploit.

Except Mosquitoes. They can all die.

They are useful as food to fish, insects and other critters. Cane toads in Australia can die off there. They were introduced by humans and have been eating their way to the top of the food chain...

I think Bart brought one over there when he went to get booted.