In our busy every day life we don't think that a few less trees or the extinction of some obscure insect, known only to some scientists "with nothing better to do", can affect our well being. But can we trust it to be so?

Lets take a look at the bird Dodo, extinct in 1681. This bird can be a symbol of the damage that Man has been doing, since it became a powerful force on Earth. The Dodo lived on the Mauritias Islands, an important trade harbour in the XV century. These large birds couldn't fly, so they were slaughtered by the thousands. They were extinct less than 200 years after they were first seen.

Recently, biologists noticed that all the Calvaria trees of the Mauritias were over 300 years old, not a single one grew after the Dodo was extinct...

Looks like the seeds of this tree needed to pass the stomach of the bird to start it's development.

This story is just an example of how everything and everyone is interconnected on Earth, not even Mankind can survive isolated from other living beings.

So is thinking of you and of all those unique beings that vanish everyday that I bring this to your attention, hoping you'll take a few moments of your life to think about this ...
 
Biologists have three categories:
 

In an effort to explore to the full our agriculture, programs have been selecting the most productive kinds of plants. The problem with that is that it narrows the natural genetic variation. Plants that are cultivated all over the world have the same traits, making them more vulnerable to plagues and disease. A very well known, but no often remembered, example of this was the great famine in Ireland, caused by the destruction of potato plants by a fungus plague.

Agriculture and cattle are also the main reasons for the cut down of thousands of Km of forests, to make room for fields. But the soil, without the protection of the native plants, is eroded after the first rains, leaving the land bare.

Since Man first walked the Earth, we have been using plants or their products as medicines. Even today 40% of the medicines used by Man are originated from plants. Plants can produce very complex molecules, that would be too expensive to make in a laboratory.

The actual rate of extinction is over 1000 times faster then the natural rate, which explains why so many species vanish before we even get a chance to study them.

It's clear to all the importance of the plants for life on Earth, since they're responsible for the capture of solar energy and turning it into organic molecules we all feed on, so maybe we should respect plants more ...
 

The european expansion over to North America, after 1860, was side to side with an amazing killing of all its natural life.

About that time, the Corrier-pigeon was one of the most numerous bird on Earth. Birds would take 3 days to fly over an area, at a rate of 3 million per hour!! Less than 100 years latter, in 1914, the last one died in the Cincinnati Zoo.

Another sad american story happened with the Buffaloes. At first there were 30 to 40 million of those animals, even if the Indians hunted them for meat and furs.

With the arrival of the europeans, over 2,5 millions were killed every year, between 1870 and 1875, just for their tongues and fur. In 1900 only 500 were alive in the wild.

The survival of an increasing number of animals is threatened, mostly by the destruction of their natural habitats.

Already in 1988 was known that 4589 species were threatened with extinction. This number included 555 mammals, 1073 birds, 186 reptiles, 54 amphibians, 596 fishes and 2125 invertebrates.

At the current rate of animal extinction, hundreds of vertebrates and about a million insects will be extinct in a few years.
The main causes of animal extinction, besides destruction of habitats, are hunting and competition with domestic animals.
One of the groups in most peril is our own, the Primates, with most if not all, of its species endangered.

These are some of the strange and beautiful animals that we are at risk of losing forever, if we don't do anything to prevent it:

in North America, the Condor, one the largest birds of prey in the world. This wonderful bird was at the brink of extinction but a careful project to save it is starting to show some results. Don't think it's all over, the Condor is not "out of the woods" yet;

in South America, the strange Manatee, that the Indians consider a kind of mermaid of the rivers. This slow moving and peaceful mammal feeds on the river herbs, mostly in shallow waters. Because of that, can easilly be hurt by motor boats, the main reason for its decline;

in western Europe, the Lynx, the most endangered feline of the planet. This small wild cat was very common in eastern Europe, namelly Portugal and Spain, but today, due to habitat destruction and hunt, it's almost extinct. In the 90's there were only about 100 of them in the wild;

in eastern Europe, the Przewalski Horse, the only real wild horse left and the oldest member of their family. The competition with cattle is the main reason why these horses are on the verge of extintion;

in Africa, the Mabeco or Wild African Dog, another of the most endangered mammal predators. Mabecos live in packs, like most canines, with a very organised social structure. All the members of the pack are very close, helping to take care of the young ones or hunt. The food is shared by all animals, even the ones who can't hunt anymore;

in Asia, the Red Panda, a smaller relative of the so well known Giant Panda. This beautiful and shy animal spends most of its life on trees, feeding on leaves and fruits. Once again, the destruction of the rain forests where it lives is causing the decline of this, and many other, species;

in New Zealand, the Takahe, a wonderfully colored non-flying bird. This bird was considered extinct for over 50 years, until in 1948 a small population was found in a remote mountain area. The destruction of their habitat and the attack of their nests by domestic cats are the causes of these birds decline.