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RainforestWolf — Extinction Graveyard
Published: 2013-10-31 23:38:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 2193; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 1
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Description
Ghosts and monsters are scary, but they are not as scary as the threat of extinction that biodiversity faces as a result of human actions. The species that face the highest risk of extinction are classified as Critically Endangered (CR) by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species; the ones depicted here are, from left to right:
*Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur (Varecia variegata)
*Scimitar-horned Oryx (Oryx dammah) [Note: the IUCN status of this species is Extinct in the Wild (EW)]
*Red Wolf (Canis rufus)
*Santa Marta Toro (Santamartamys rufodorsalis)
*African Wild Ass (Equus africanus)
*Central Zyzomys (Zyzomys pedunculatus)
*Darwin's Zorro (Pseudalopex fulvipes)
*European Mink (Mustela lutreola)
*Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus)
*Rodrigues "Flying-fox" (Pteropus rodricensis)
*Golden-mantled Tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus)
Sadly, it is too late for a number of species, for they have already gone extinct; the names of the Extinct (EX) species and subspecies on the gravestones, in no particular order, are:
*Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)
*Oahu Akialoa (Hemignathus ellisianus)
*Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
*Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)
*Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis)
*Golden Toad (Incilius periglenes)
*Navassa Iguana (Cyclura onchiopsis)
*Saint Croix Racer (Borikenophis sanctaecrucis)
*Steller's "Sea-cow" (Hydrodamalis gigas)
*Baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) [Note: the Baiji has not been officially declared extinct yet, but an extensive survey in 2006 failed to find any evidence of continued survival, and in all likelihood the species is probably extinct; it has been declared "Functionally Extinct."]
*Merriam's Elk (Cervus elaphus merriami or Cervus canadensis merriami)
*Japanese River Otter (Lutra nippon or Lutra lutra whiteleyi)
*Formosan Clouded-leopard (Neofelis nebulosa brachyura)
*Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata)
*Guam "Flying-fox" (Pteropus tokudae)
*Caribbean Monk Seal (Monachus tropicalis)
*Quagga (Equus quagga quagga)
*Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura)
*Sea Mink (Neovison macrodon or Mustela macrodon)
*Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus)
*Japanese Wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax)
*Warrah (Dusicyon australis)
*Maclear's Rat (Rattus macleari)
*Pallid Beach Deermouse (Peromyscus polionotus decoloratus)
The dates of extinction are based on either one of the following:
1) The year the last known individual(s) were spotted in the wild.
2) The year the last known individual(s) were shot.
3) The year the last known individual(s) died under human care.
4) The year the species is officially declared Extinct.
I did the best I could to ensure the accuracy of extinction dates, but if you notice an error then please point it out and link me to a credible source for info confirmation.
For this picture I focused on the tetrapod vertebrates - mammals in particular - as those are the animals that I am most familiar with. However, please keep in mind that species of fish, invertebrates, plants, fungi, and micro-organisms are also at risk of extinction and have gone Extinct due to human actions. All of these organisms are just as deserving of conservation efforts as the mammals and other tetrapods (and are also just as deserving of our grief when they go Extinct).
By posting this picture I hope to raise awareness about the extinction crisis currently facing the world's biodiversity, while also celebrating the spooky spirit of the holiday. Happy Halloween!
UPDATES:
*As of 2015, the Iberian Lynx is no longer Critically Endangered, thanks to conservation actions! It is now classified as Endangered (EN) - still bad, but better than before!
*As of 2016, the Darwin's Zorro is no longer Critically Endangered, thanks to conservation actions! It is now classified as Endangered - still bad, but better than before!
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Comments: 77
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It's a shame that so many animals are gone! 
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I agree with everything you stated here.
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What's more tragic is that animals like Tigers are being hunted down in Saudi Arabia because they think Tiger penises are an afrodisiac. However, because of the biased statement that "It's their culture, we should respect it.", we're allowing them to hunt down the Tiger population to extinction.
As a fellow animal lover, I sympathize with your message, and I certainly don't want any animal to go extinct (Except for Mosquitos. They can rot in Hell.).
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Tigers do not live in Saudi Arabia - I'm assuming you mean that Tigers are killed in their native range and their parts are sent to Saudi Arabia for their perceived "medical" value? I agree that this is very tragic, and the illegal wildlife trade of endangered animals for the perceived "medical" value of their body parts is contributing to the extinction of not only Tigers, but of many other species as well. And it's not just Saudi Arabia that is contributing to this - many other countries are as well, so this is a global problem. Conservation science is a complicated field due to the clashes between the protection of wildlife and the interests of human societies. We certainly should never allow any species to go extinct just to respect cultural beliefs, but we also cannot disrespect those cultural beliefs and disregard them as nothing either - that will only increase hostility towards conservation. Instead, we need to cooperate with local communities to reduce their demand for endangered species parts, in addition to creating and enforcing regulations that ban the trade of endangered species parts.
Thank you for supporting my message of protecting biodiversity.
As for mosquitoes: I understand the desire to exterminate mosquitoes, and agree that we should reduce mosquito-borne diseases as much as possible, but I believe that condemning an entire group of species to extinction is just too extreme and even downright dangerous. As much as people hate them, mosquitoes do play a role in the ecosystem - they are pollinators and a source of food for other species. Ecosystems and the ecological interactions that occur between the species within them are extremely complicated, so who knows what harm would come to the global ecosystem if all mosquito species were to suddenly go extinct. After all, our ancestors thought that a world without predators would be beneficial, yet look at what happened when predators were successfully eradicated - prey overpopulated, vegetation was overgrazed, and this just caused negative cascades to other species. Not to mention that the extermination of mosquitoes will set a dangerous precedent of people exterminating other species that cause inconvenience - where do we draw the line?
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Sorry, I meant to say China. I confused the two.
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OK, but my point remains the same.
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oh wait you forgot another Critically endangered rodent.
Chinchilla.
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Yes, thanks for the reminder; I will try to squeeze a chinchilla in here when (if) I get around to finishing this. It's so sad that both species (Chinchilla chinchilla and Chinchilla lanigera) are critically endangered!
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No problem. I agree it really is sad.
oh shoot I forgot to mention the golden hamster while it is not as severely endangered as the chinchilla it is still an endangered rodent though.
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So sad that the beautiful little Golden Hamster is at risk of extinction! There are so many threatened rodents, which is really tragic! And it is unfortunate when nobody cares about these endangered species (many of which are unique) due to their association with the few rodent species that we humans have deemed to be "pests!"
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I know right it's so sad!
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It would look even better with colour
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Agreed; I just never got around to coloring it yet...
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So sad. People don't have any sense. I'm trying to help Amur Leopards by adopting them from WWF. I have three leopards. They're beautiful! I only hope they won't become extinct!
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I agree, it is very sad. I wish that more people were concerned about the plight of wildlife (and the planet in general).
That's wonderful that you are trying to help the Amur Leopards; good luck with saving them! I agree, they are beautiful and I too hope that they don't go extinct!
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Yes, and global warming isn't helping.
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I know! I wish that people took the threat of climate change more seriously than they do, but no, it has to be a political issue, and we all know that science + politics is never a good thing.
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Yes, its sad that most of the world don't really care about global warming. And when so many things are being affected, people should really try to stop global warming.
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to not be hunted, poached, killed, an animal specie have to be disappeared, that the sad truth...
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So are you saying that it is better for animal species to go extinct?
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no, absolutly not, that just a sad observation : on the humans law, only endangered species have the right to live peacefully (for instance : wolves are quite rare in my country so they are protected, foxes are common, they are massacred all time, even breding time...), but sadly there are poachers too...
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Oh, ok. Sorry, I thought that you were implying that it is better for a species to go extinct than to be hunted.
Just because a species is common does not mean that it is not protected. Granted, they do not have as much protection as endangered species, but they are still protected nonetheless. Where I live deer are very common yet they are protected by strict laws. It is illegal to kill them outside the hunting season, and killing them out-of-season results in harsh fines and even imprisonment.
The fact that endangered species have more protection that common species is justifiable. The reason why threatened species are protected more than common species is because the threatened species will go extinct without protection, whereas the common species would most likely do just fine without the amount of protection that threatened species receive.
I see your point, though, and totally agree. It is a shame that common species can be trapped and hunted for sport just because they are not endangered. Animals of common species have the right to live too!
What really frustrates me is that, whereas ungulates are protected as big-game species, many carnivores are treated as vermin if they're not endangered. Where I live coyotes are classified as a "predatory species," meaning that they can be shot on sight any time of the year.
The wolves in your country are lucky; in parts of my country they are being hunted and trapped aggressively, and a number of people view them as destructive, disease-ridden vermin to be eradicated.
I wish people had more respect for foxes. Foxes are an important part of the ecosystem and they do not deserve to be treated as vermin.
Poaching is a huge problem; it is one of the main causes of human-induced extinction. Legal forces really need to create stricter anti-poaching laws, better enforce existing laws against poaching, and arrest poachers who are caught.
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I live in the UK and I have seen anti fox newspaper articles.
Sad but true
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That is both really sad and absolutely horrible! I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that one of the UK political parties is going to re-legalize fox hunting if they get voted into the majority; that would be terrible! How could people hate foxes so much?
Thankfully we don't have anti-fox articles here in America (at least, none that I know of), but we do have an entire anti-wolf movement. In the states of Idaho and Montana there are extremely aggressive hunting and trapping seasons on the wolf that are meant to drastically reduce the population size. And right now there are three bills in our USA legislature that if passed would strip wolves of their protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and Utah (the bill that prohibits protection in the latter three states was just introduced yesterday). Also, the states of Wyoming and South Dakota want to classify wolves as vermin that could be shot on sight 24/7/365 once they regain control over wolf management.
I will never understand the mentality of people who hate foxes, wolves, and other wildlife.
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The articles are fairly old now. But they were still pathetic
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Glad to know that they are old, but still you are right, they are pathetic! Though unfortunately people are still committing anti-fox actions. I remember one time reading this article about a hunter who killed a mother vixen and her very young (newborn?) cubs, and after he killed them he snapped a picture of the dead foxes and posted it on the internet; it was absolutely disgusting!
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That is disgraceful behaviour
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It is! What's really sad is that this is not uncommon behavior, and it's not restricted to foxes. Did you hear the story of the Idaho hunter who took a photo of himself in front of a trapped wolf that had blood in the snow all around it? There's also another photo of a group of hunters in Wyoming with a dead black wolf, proudly displaying the American flag yet also hiding their faces behind white masks. Ugh, these types of photos make me sick! But at least they show the world the messed up mentality of these hunters!
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yeah, coyote are the most hunted and hated mamal on north america, he comes to town because he is clever and know town are safer for him than wild aeras (and he is far less an invasive specie than human race...).
in my country, wolves are theorically full protected and about 80% french people are pro wolves, but despite this, 10% of them are illegally killed by my governement each year (not including poaching by hunters), even in aera who there are no cattle and no trouble just because most of farmers and other belong to powerfull lobby and hate all form of wildelife (and a big part of other humans) : FERUS is fighting agaist that and sometimes win but the future of the wolf is uncertain .
but wolves are lucky comparating as foxes who are treated like coyotes in your homeland.
I know a little the laws about predators on usa and canada, and the bounty system, which still exist in alberta for instance (100 to 500 usd for each wolves killed) and all over the world it's the same thing : not a land better than another....
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I really wish that people had more respect for coyotes. They are beautiful animals and are an important part of the ecosystem. Just because they are not endangered doesn't mean that they are vermin. What really disgusts me are the coyote killing contests, where hunters kill as many coyotes as they can in a certain amount of time, with the winner being the one that either shoots the most coyotes or kills the biggest one.
I've heard a little about the wolves of France, though I never knew that the government killed that many wolves per year. French wolves are lucky compared to our American gray wolves, though; at least they (the French wolves) are protected and have more public support.
I don't really know the wildlife laws of countries other than the US, and even then I'm not an expert on US wildlife law. There's a bounty on wolves in Alberta?!?!
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I'm not an expert too but I know some law in idaoh, montana or alaska, and in canada;
in alberta, local authorities use to kill wolves by poisonning until 2008 and now in some area, high bounties still exist (in lolo area for instance);
bounties always exist in russia, armenia ect but in a land such as canada that's really a shame !
yeah I heard something about coyotes contests which are common in some us area, and I'm shattered that these "sport" still exist in the 21th....
the 200 french wolves are luckier than US wolves for sure but their future will be like in your contry because governement is pro livestock farmers lobbies and antiwolf and makes less effort each years to make cohabitate both cattle and wolves (now the specie is too endangered to be really hunted but in 10 years???)
but association like ferus fights the governement decision and somtimes win (because my governement is outlaw concerning the wolf)
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I'll have to look up the Alberta wolf bounties sometime. Yeah, it is a shame that bounties still exist in Canada (and elsewhere).
There are no bounties on wolves in the Lolo, though there is aggressive hunting, and wolves were even aerial-gunned there.
I can't even comprehend how those vile coyote killing contests can still exist in modern times.
200 wolves? I never realized that the French wolf population was that high.
Honestly I doubt that wolf killing in France will ever get as bad as it is in America, though only time will tell if that is the case or not. Governments catering to anti-wolf forces, that sounds exactly like what is happening here in America.
At least groups like FERUS are fighting to protect wolves. There are a number of groups here in America fighting for the wolves as well.
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what I know is that bounties don't exist in the whole albertan land but just in some localities (I don't remember their name) maybe not anymore in lolo area.
Palin (when she was alaskan governor) give bounties the hunters for wolf killing too.
in france, wolf disappared in 1930's and naturally come back in 1992, there are now about 150 to 250 wolves on the whole country (so 200 on average) : 12 may be killed in 2012 versus 24 for the new wolf plan in 2013, even if the wolf is full protected by the law.
luckier, they are very shy and hard to see because there are a lot of poaching on all wild species in france and poachers are rarely punished.
yeah, I know that in america there are some powerfull association which fight against the wolf killing, even some hunters are against this hunt and print the "earth first" guide, dealing with how to sabotage wolf hunting (I don't know why wolves have been reintroduced to make them suffering again) but, like in other country, governement prefers to makes lobbies happy because they get more money than wildlife....
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Perhaps you are talking about a different Lolo? I'm thinking about the one in Idaho, USA; there has yet to be a modern bounty on wolves in that region.
I've heard about Palin and her wolf killing in Alaska...
I knew that wolves started to recolonize France in the 1990's; I just didn't know that their population grew that much (I thought that it was between 100 and 150 wolves).
It's a shame that the French government culls the wolf population even though it is endangered.
"luckier, they are very shy and hard to see because there are a lot of poaching on all wild species in France and poachers are rarely punished." -- Wait, so you are saying that the wolves are lucky due to poaching because it makes them shy?
It is a shame that there is so much poaching; there needs to be more active law enforcement against poaching, and poachers need to be punished if they are caught.
I've heard about the Earth First guide on sabotaging wolf hunts.
The wolves were reintroduced to restore the ecosystem, not so that they can suffer again. The reason why wolves are being killed is because of anti-wolf policies in the states that have wolf populations.
"government prefers to makes lobbies happy because they get more money than wildlife...." -- Sadly, that is so true.
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You're right for the lolo region
when I write "luckier, they are very shy", it's just to say that if they were not, poaching will be far more prejudiciable (there are lot of hunters in france - about 2 millions for 65 millions inhabitants - including a certain part poachers and french authorities are VERY permissive with predators poachers)
governement is outlaw, especialy concerning the new law about hunters allowed to kill some wolves during boar hunt (whithout any ONF agent) but association like ferus bring it to tribunal and win 3 times against gilty prefets.
indeed, the french governement and medias are very friendly with hunting association (which are concidered as "wildlife saver" and have subsidies from governement for that !) livestock industries and other lobby and don't hesitate to break the washington and berne convention.
and the wolf is supposed to be full protected in france....
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What do you mean that "poaching will be far more prejudiciable?"
Governments being forgiving of predator poachers... that sounds just like America! Not long before the gray wolf was delisted, the state of Idaho decided to adopt a policy of not prosecuting wolf poachers or not enforcing wolf protection or something like that, even though wolves were still on the federal Endangered Species List at that time. And I remember, back in February of 2012 a hunter shot a wolf named OR9 (brother of the famous wolf OR7/Journey) with an expired wolf tag and this poacher received no punishment whatsoever; all he received was a warning. I was so angry about that; I bet that if that poached animal was an elk then the hunter would be thrown in jail or at least fined!
I did not know that the French government allowed wolves to be hunted; I thought that wolves were fully protected there. Someone should challenge this in the EU Court like conservationists did with the Swedish wolf hunts.
It's like that here in America as well. Hunters are viewed as conservationists and "wildlife heroes," and some (but not all) hunters tend to have this attitude that they are the only true conservationists. Granted, hunters have helped protect wildlife habitat (which is a part of conservation) and this should not be denied, but I just don't understand how killing wildlife is conserving them. And news flash to the we-are-the-only-conservationists hunters: not all true conservationists hunt!
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when I say "if predators don't be shy, poaching will be far more prejudiciable", I mean that if wolves (for instance) were easy to see, so easy to hunt, they woulb be probably extermined again; (sorry, I sometime use weird expression in English).
yes, game species poaching is far more punished than predators species, it's a shame.
theorically wolves is full protects in France but first, regionnal prefet can take the decision to kill a wolf (in the limit of 24 per year for all the France) if there are some trouble (even if the trouble was caused byn dogs!) and 2nd, 6 month ago, prefet begin to authorize killing wolves during regular boar tracking (with governement agreement), the only thing hunters have to do is to declare when they kill a wolf (who is NOT deductible of the 24 kill per year).
hopefully, FERUS (in association with klanloup and others) manage to bring the case to court and win vs the 2 préfets and the runaway governement, who have to stop this : but in 5 days, 3 wolves have been already killed (using wildelife protection and ferus fotos and information to locate these 6 month old pups....) now, few others prefet have authorized wolves killing during tracking, but now FERUS and co are considered as pest by governement which is very pro hunting (gov is much arranging with hunter than with anyone else) and FERUS facilities have been vandalized 2 time by cattle keepers, hunters and others...
yeah, I know, hunting can have some benefit in some case, but hunting like it practised in the world is slauting for pleasure by potentialy dangerous people who are strengthen by governement;
In france, the situation is turning like in USA and when butch otter, Idaho governor, says "we don't want wolves here" and wants to give 2 million dollars to promote the slaughting of 3/4 of the 600 wolves in his territory or when gail griffin wants to autorize rancher to kill mexican wolves suspected on cattle predation (and america is not the worse land for wolves, russia is slaugthing them whithout absolutly any restriction ) I'm not sure predators will be still here in a century...
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Oh, OK, I see what you mean now; thank you for clarifying. "sorry, I sometime use weird expression in English" -- Don't worry about it!
It is a shame. All native wildlife needs to be protected, not just game species that humans like to hunt.
Wow, I guess the situation in France really is bad for wolves. Let's hope that FERUS and others bring this to the attention of the EU Court.
Exactly; hunting to feed one's family is one thing, but killing for the sake of killing is unethical, immoral, and just plain wrong.
The Idaho governor's proposal to spend $2,000,000 on killing wolves is absolutely ridiculous! If this is not evidence of Idaho's intent to eradicate wolves again then I don't know what is! I just hope that it doesn't happen.
Griffin wants to let ranchers shot critically endangered Mexican wolves?! No way, they cannot be allowed to get away with killing our lobos!
Yeah, at least wolves in America are protected as a big game species in most states that they have been delisted in and can be emergency relisted if the government feels that it is required. I'm no expert on Russian wolf policies but I've heard that they are aggressive, which is a real shame. Russia has a huge wolf population (of multiple subspecies) that was never endangered nationally, and the country should protect them to ensure that the population stays healthy, not kill them off as vermin like other nations did.
Predators will still be here in a century, because compassionate, conservation-minded people like you and me will make sure that they are here for centuries to come.
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I don't know the situation in Montana or in Minnesota, and all information about Arizona and Idaho need to be verified (mexican wolves, who are fast extinct, will be slaughted by ranchers ? that's really non sense ! but I read this in a serious media!).
armenia, macedonia, mongolia, russia still give bounties for each wolf killed but there are some local people fighting agaisnt these décisions and laws, whithout any result for the moment but it's only a beginning.
I hope the next Idaho, Arizona and other governors will be more tolerant about wildelife, hunters have to much power, it would be great if federal governement create laws to allow only overpopulated animals killing (I'm dreaming but maybe future will be better than now) and I hope you're right about predators population for the next century!
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I haven't really been keeping up with the situation in Minnesota, but in Montana they just recently passed a new rule that would allow landowners to shot wolves without a permit or something like that. I've looked up the anti-bills of Idaho and Arizona, and they are both real. In fact, the Idaho bill already became law, unfortunately.
It's a shame that wolf bounties still exist in those countries, but at least some citizens are fighting against them. Let's hope that they are successful!
I really hope that the next governors of all of those states are more tolerate of wildlife too! I agree, hunters have way too much power over wildlife management.
"I'm dreaming but maybe future will be better than now" -- Don't all great ideas start with a dream? The last time I checked they did. The future will be better than now; we just can't give up no matter how bad it may seem!
Predator populations will be around the next century, I will work to make sure that they are!
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indeed, butch otter is a very pro-hunting governor and don't respect any living animals : without federal protection, wolves will be slaughted once again... and it's the same in all wolf populated state in usa, governor are still friendly with trapping and hunting federation, guns and rancher lobbies (I think rancher is a beautifull job but ranchers them-self only respect money) and other pest like this.
Sadly in my country, a new outlaw law is about to be voted (which don't respect bern convention) : cattle keeper will be authorized to shoot wolves (with the downward spiral like hunters and others killing wolves too).
I really don't know why predators are so detested, our worse criminal, terrorist and felon (who cause more trouble and cost many money to the society) are more respect than them !
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I know, he is, and it is such a shame that he and the other state governors are so willing to give into the hunting and ranching pressures; that is a disaster for wolves and other predatory wildlife species. Did you hear that they are now trying to delist and establish trophy hunts on the grizzly bear in the Northern Rocky Mountain states?
Yikes, that's not good! Where I live they are trying to pass a law like that too, which would allow ranchers to shoot endangered wolves in "self-defense" of their livestock. I hope it does not pass and I will do whatever I can (within legal limits, of course) to try to stop it from passing!
I don't understand why people hate predators so much either; I just wish that we as a society had more tolerance for them.
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