15 replies to this topic

[Still Waters]

After not being seen for more than 30 years, the Japanese river otter (Lutra lutra whiteleyi) has been declared extinct by the country’s Ministry of the Environment, which also last week declared several other species extinct.

Once numbering in the millions, Japanese river otters—a subspecies of the European or Eurasian otter (L. lutra)—were overhunted for their fur, most of which was sold to foreign traders, and further suffered when their habitats became developed and polluted. The animals grew to about a meter in length and subsisted mainly on fish and shrimp.

http://blogs.scienti...clared-extinct/

[Darkwind]

Sigh....  

[ThePhantomFlanFlinger]

Darkwind, on 08 September 2012 - 06:18 PM, said:

Sigh....  

Couldnt agree more....

[Galilei]

Such sad news Otters are one of my favorite animals.


It's disheartening to hear that one of the species is gone.

[ThickasaBrick]

Very disheartening. Another species that suffered for man's arrogance. The sooner the average person realizes how beautiful nature is, the sooner nature can stop suffering for our intrusion. Too bad many people only know nature through what they see on television.

[Hasina]

People too often feel separated from nature. It's something outside the human life, the human society. 'Out in the wild' is such a misused phrase.

[Simbi Laveau]

People suck !

[Simbi Laveau]

Wait...does that say asahi shumbum ...
Shumbum ?
*rolling*
I'm sorry,the content aside,that's hysterical .I read the Asahi Shimbun at least 2 times a week.
That's the worst misunderstood pronunciation I've seen in a while .
It's reverse japlish .
Shimbun means newspaper,in both Japanese,and I believe Cantonese is almost the same pronouncement.

[WhyDontYouBeliEveMe]

baka baka baka  

[Arbitran]

What a tragedy. It seems so many of Japan's once-diverse species are fast disappearing... Absolutely tragic.

[redhen]

Not just otters; "horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus pumilus miyakonis), which was last seen in 1971. The Japanese subspecies of the Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus japonicus) was declared extinct on the island of Kyushu, where it has not been seen since 1957 (it persists elsewhere in Japan). One bird species, one insect species, one shellfish species and two plant species were also listed as extinct. The names of those additional groups were not immediately available."

bolding is mine, bears, yeah on Japan. As if... .....long gone

Interesting that the article points to the IUCN referencing some bat data, but doesn't mention that the ICUN doesn't believe that the Japanese river otter is a distinct species from the Eurasion otter.


http://www.iucnredli...tails/12419/0   seeTaxonomic Notes at the top.

Edited by redhen, 09 September 2012 - 08:34 PM.

[notoverrated]

goodbye otters.

[Artaxerxes]

A good metaphor is the Earth is like an airplane and all the different species of plants and animals are like rivets in that airplane.  The question is, how many rivets can an airplane lose before it quits flying?  80% of the Earth's Oxygen comes from the ocean.  How much toxic pollution can we dump in the ocean, how many species of fish can we over harvest, how much can we mess with the Earth's atmosphere acidifying the ocean, before the ocean's ecosystems just shut down and quit working thus depriving us of oxygen to breath?

[schizoidwoman]

Really sad news...

[redhen]

Artaxerxes, on 10 September 2012 - 05:58 AM, said:

A good metaphor is the Earth is like an airplane and all the different species of plants and animals are like rivets in that airplane.

Following up that metaphor with a quote from Marshall McLuhan, "There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew".