William Temple Hornaday was an early--and probably a founding--member of the American conservation movement, and was also director of the National Zoological Park. He wrote a tremendously bitter and accurate report for the U.S. National Museum in 1894 on the extermination of the American bison, an absolute head-shaker, detailing the history of the bison in North America and its destruction at the hands of sportsmen, hunters, mindless dolts and many others who massacred tens of millions of the animal ("murdered" is the word Hornaday uses constantly). To put the whole issue in perspective, Hornaday issued a famous map showing the shrinkage of the North American bison herd, setting out the enormity of the issue instantly on one piece of paper, a summary of hundreds of pages of bad stories and big numbers.
posted by Trurl
on Jun 15, 2011 -
18 comments
"Bryn the pygmy rabbit died in 2008, marking the end of her genetic line. This subpopulation lost its sagebrush habitat as the land was developed for agriculture ... In an off-exhibit room at the Oregon Zoo, the staff was quiet, even reverent, as they brought in Bryn. She was one of two Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits left, and since both were old females, this was a solemn occasion."
Rare: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species
posted by melissam
on May 30, 2010 -
16 comments
Attenborough's Pitcher, an "Udderly Weird Yam," a two-inch phallic mushroom already immortalized on
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, and the "Bombardier Worm" ("Chaff worm" would seem a more accurate name) are just four of the newly described species making the International Institute for Species Exploration's totally arbitrary
Top 10 New Species list.
[more inside]
posted by dust of the stars
on May 26, 2010 -
6 comments
The 2004 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources'
Red List of Threatened Species.
posted by Gyan
on Oct 20, 2005 -
6 comments
Cuba is best known for its
legendary cigars and
bearded dictators, but it's also home to some of the healthiest ecosystems in the Caribbean.
Pygmy owls,
bee hummingbirds, and
solenodons share the islands of Cuba with
tiny tiny tree frogs,
trogons, and
one of the largest groups of snails in the world. There are problems, though. Many species such as the
giant cursorial owl, the
ivory-billed woodpecker and the
smallest of the giant sloths have been wiped out over the last 5,000 years, and
other species are threatened.
posted by bshort
on May 23, 2003 -
8 comments
Feeling Peckish? Like a big bald eagle? Order one now! Humour might be one way of trying to protect endangered animals but the
bushmeat trade is no joke and
fighting it is damn difficult, probably as difficult as fighting world poverty. Does anyone else feel that these jokes just aren't funny anymore?
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Sep 19, 2002 -
9 comments
