Lonesome George Dead, Species Extinct

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

World loses species with death of Lonesome George - Yahoo! News

I've been waiting for a week to start a new thread, but my father showed me this news, and I had to post it quick for you guys to see after the remembrance of the extinct subspecies of the Black Rhino. I've made a brief mention of him from my Spanish presentation back in college. He was the very last of his kind due to humans bringing non-native animals into Pinta Island, stealing all the food resources from those tortoises. His passing made me realize that all our efforts to save these animals from the hands of human activity were all in vain, and it made me lose more of my faith in humanity as a whole.

 

[DerMißingno]

Spoiler

So it goes.

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

[His passing made me realize that all our efforts to save these animals from the hands of human activity were all in vain, and it made me lose more of my faith in humanity as a whole.

That is untrue. Look at all of the successful restoration programs (the California condor, the black-footed ferret) for proof. It is impossible to restore a species from one specimen, so of course any effort to restore the Pinta tortoise would have been in vain.

 

[Enzap]

That's really sad...

However, I hate to sound insensitive, but this isn't a lot more significant than the loss of one tortoise. If he truly was the last of his species, then there was little to no chance of the species making a rebound.

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

However, I hate to sound insensitive, but this isn't a lot more significant than the loss of one tortoise. If he truly was the last of his species, then there was little to no chance of the species making a rebound.

The true significance of this death is what it represents. A subspecies is gone largely because of our actions. We need to redouble our efforts to save species whose existences we've put in peril, or more events like this will begin happening more and more frequently.

 

[DerMißingno]

[His passing made me realize that all our efforts to save these animals from the hands of human activity were all in vain, and it made me lose more of my faith in humanity as a whole.

That is untrue. Look at all of the successful restoration programs (the California condor, the black-footed ferret) for proof. It is impossible to restore a species from one specimen, so of course any effort to restore the Pinta tortoise would have been in vain.

But often (not always) our restoration programs are trying to restore something that we fucked up in the first place. If you burn down someone's house then build them a shack, have you really done a good thing overall?

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

[His passing made me realize that all our efforts to save these animals from the hands of human activity were all in vain, and it made me lose more of my faith in humanity as a whole.

That is untrue. Look at all of the successful restoration programs (the California condor, the black-footed ferret) for proof. It is impossible to restore a species from one specimen, so of course any effort to restore the Pinta tortoise would have been in vain.

But often (not always) our restoration programs are trying to restore something that we fucked up in the first place. If you burn down someone's house then build them a shack, have you really done a good thing overall?

So we shouldn't do anything to correct our errors? That what you're saying?

 

[DerMißingno]

But often (not always) our restoration programs are trying to restore something that we fucked up in the first place. If you burn down someone's house then build them a shack, have you really done a good thing overall?

So we shouldn't do anything to correct our errors? That what you're saying?

Umm, no, it's definitely not what I'm saying.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I've known about Lonesome George for many years. I feel empty inside knowing he's gone now.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

[His passing made me realize that all our efforts to save these animals from the hands of human activity were all in vain, and it made me lose more of my faith in humanity as a whole.

That is untrue. Look at all of the successful restoration programs (the California condor, the black-footed ferret) for proof. It is impossible to restore a species from one specimen, so of course any effort to restore the Pinta tortoise would have been in vain.

But often (not always) our restoration programs are trying to restore something that we fucked up in the first place. If you burn down someone's house then build them a shack, have you really done a good thing overall?

So we shouldn't do anything to correct our errors? That what you're saying?

I think he is clearly saying that "it is better to prevent than repair." Yeah, we have been on a destruction spree in the past and we should correct it. But i personally believe that most corrective actions are "too little, too late." We have already lost some species like dodo and the great Auk and the passenger pigeon and the way we are going we are gonna kill some more. I mean are we doing enough to prevent global warming, poaching, etc although we are aware of how it is happening, its effects? We were destroying in the past and we are still doing it.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

This just proves we need to start being more careful with what we do so a lot more species like that tortoise dont go extinct. It is impossible to restore a species with one individual, efforts ought to be taken to keep more species dont go extinct, it is too late when there is only one left.

 

[proserpina]

This is sad, but I really wonder how many people will actually take any lesson from it and do their part to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.

 

[CommanderPigg]

It's really sad that George didn't know how to copulate successfully, thus never producing any offspring I'll miss you, George! (((

 

[Bandit Keith]

This is proof that we need to perfect cloning technology, in order to make more of human greed-murdered species, like the Pinta Island Tortoise, the Black Rhino, and the Yangtze River Dolphin.

Lonesome George, I hope after your necropsy, you get a proper funeral, as the last of your kind...

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

This is proof that we need to perfect cloning technology, in order to make more of human greed-murdered species, like the Pinta Island Tortoise, the Black Rhino, and the Yangtze River Dolphin.

Apparently, you haven't read the original novel of Jurassic Park about the negativity of cloning technology.

 

[SmartDarkrai]

George, I salute you. Finally, once again, you will be with your kind again. R.I.P. Lonesome George, the Pinta Island Tortoise endling.

 

[Instrutilus]

Welp, better get to work on cloning...

I say that jokingly, but I really hope we can restore a species we've destroyed through it rather then naturally extinct dinosaurs or whatever they propose nowadays...

 

[99unownoak]

That's sad. I hope one day we will be able to clone species that we have caused the extinction of such as Lonesome George and the Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger).

 

[GreatLiver]

Your average human being honestly won't take anything away from this. Other than noticing for about a week, the majority of people haven't been taking anything from the dozens of extinctions that have been happening in recent history. People just don't understand the fact that it takes hundreds of thousands of years for speciation to occur because it's just too hard to wrap our brains around how long of a time that is.

Honestly though, George was just a relic of a different age of humanity. The subspecies was extinct a long time ago. Anyone who thought otherwise was fooling themselves with him being the only individual. We've made significant steps in the last decade concerning conservation. Could it be better, of course. Human impact on the biosphere have been tremendously terrible for the entirety of human history really, and all the work we do now won't be enough. But we're getting better. To look at the extinction of this subspecies as something definitive in the realm of conservation is looking at it wrong. There are some species making considerable rebounds. A lot not, but a lot that are. Genetic monotony from bottlenecks is an issue in itself that's going to be a larger issue down the road, but I do think basing an interpretation on the effectiveness of conservation on this extinction is not the right way to be looking at it.

 

[Bandit Keith]

Yes I have read Jurassic Park, and like the message.

HOWEVER...they added extra DNA, and resurrected that which is ancient.

The creatures I talked about are only recently extinct, geologically-speaking. Also, they have complete DNA available, and can easily adapt to their native age.

Jurassic Park's examples pertain only to that which is over 100 years gone.

Otherwise, it is feasible if nothing is added or monopolized.