In case you haven't come across it yet, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) are marking the UN International Year of Biodiversity with the Species of the Day website. All of the organisms listed are on the IUCN's Red List (a list of the conservation status of plants and animals). It's a scary thought that the 365 days of 2010 will only give the IUCN the opportunity to highlight the tip of the iceberg in terms of organisms facing extinction.
Today's critically endangered organism is the Silky Anteater, but if you click on the link above on another day, it will feature another organism that, without intervention of some kind (such as habitat preservation) could disappear from the Earth for ever. Many of which you and I would not even have heard of. Organisms already featured include the Mountain Tapir (I have a soft spot for tapirs), the Djibouti Francolin, the Sea Marigold, the Boreal Felt Lichen, and the delightfully named Demonic Poison Frog.
*A wonderful phrase my mum used to say to us when we wanted more of something very nice but in limited supply - cake, biscuits, ice creams and so on. Generally, however, there is more cake. There won't be more mountain tapirs :-(
Friday, March 05, 2010
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4 comments:
This is frightening to me, Happy. There are probably just as many things disappearing that man has not even discovered yet! Good thing there will always be cake though this is not a subject to take lightly. Sometimes I feel that the phrase we learned when I was growing up, "Better living through chemistry" is to blame for many of the ills we face today.
Frances
I join Frances Happy in saying how frightening this is. I call congress weekly to demand clean green energy... true energy reform. Great post! Thank you for the links! Carol
I join with you in your appreciation of Tapirs.
Melancholy looking creatures but generally good eggs.
I love this. Thank you for raising awareness about the IUCN. I'll follow your blog.
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