Still Waters Posted September 8, 2012 #1 Share Posted September 8, 2012 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/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Greenman Posted September 8, 2012 #2 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Sigh.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhantomFlanFlinger Posted September 8, 2012 #3 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Sigh.... Couldnt agree more.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galilei Posted September 8, 2012 #4 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Such sad news Otters are one of my favorite animals. It's disheartening to hear that one of the species is gone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThickasaBrick Posted September 8, 2012 #5 Share Posted September 8, 2012 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hasina Posted September 8, 2012 #6 Share Posted September 8, 2012 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. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simbi Laveau Posted September 9, 2012 #7 Share Posted September 9, 2012 People suck ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simbi Laveau Posted September 9, 2012 #8 Share Posted September 9, 2012 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhyDontYouBeliEveMe Posted September 9, 2012 #9 Share Posted September 9, 2012 baka baka baka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbitran Posted September 9, 2012 #10 Share Posted September 9, 2012 What a tragedy. It seems so many of Japan's once-diverse species are fast disappearing... Absolutely tragic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhen Posted September 9, 2012 #11 Share Posted September 9, 2012 (edited) 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 September 9, 2012 by redhen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notoverrated Posted September 9, 2012 #12 Share Posted September 9, 2012 goodbye otters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artaxerxes Posted September 10, 2012 #13 Share Posted September 10, 2012 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? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schizoidwoman Posted September 10, 2012 #14 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Really sad news... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhen Posted September 10, 2012 #15 Share Posted September 10, 2012 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". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted September 10, 2012 #16 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Hate hearing this sort of thing, makes me hate myself for being human. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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