Extinctions

Sometimes you read alarming headlines that an animal we take for granted is almost extinct. It may seem like panic and fear for our planet would be the right reaction.

"The way the public hears about conservation issues is nearly always in the mode of ‘[Beloved Animal] Threatened With Extinction’. That makes for electrifying headlines, but it misdirects concern." 

This author, with decades of conservation experience behind him, says that extinctions are not that big of an issue, that the panicky tone is uncalled-for. New species are being discovered faster than species are going extinct.

photo: huffingtonpost.com

Back in 2012 the giant tortoise "Lonesome George" (above) died, the last of his particular species. But there are 10 more subspecies and 19,000 other giant tortoises on the Galapagos Islands occupying the same "ecological niche." So, "ecologists shrugged."

(cont'd tomorrow)