For the first time in 75 years, an entire genus of mammal is on the brink of extinction

For the first time in 75 years, an entire genus of mammal is on the brink of extinction

You're looking at three of the last known hirola on Earth. Since the 1970s, unregulated hunting, habitat destruction and drought linked to climate change have driven the number of these large African antelopes living in Kenya and Somalia from over 14,000 to fewer than 400.

Of course, countless species go extinct every day — even the most conservative estimates show that the world is losing species at a rate 100 times greater than the world has seen in thousands of years.

But these hirola are not only among the last of their species, they're among the last of an entire genus — the taxonomic rank above species and below family. (As a point of reference, if the genus Canis were to go extinct, it would mean the disappearance of the planet's dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, and numerous other species.)

If the critically endangered hirola cannot be saved, it will be the first time the Earth has lost an entire genus of mammal in three-quarters of a century. (The death of the last known Tasmanian tiger in 1936 spelled not only the end of the genus Thylacinus, but the family Thylacinidae, as well.)



http://io9.com/5857522/for-the-first-time-in-75-years-an-entire-genus-of-mammal-is-on-the-brink-of-extinction

The rack reminds of a headdress I've seen on Egyptian gods/ goddesses.

I don't have time to look it up or read the article.
Where is their habitat?

It's in the post. ;)

Questions about how we deal with habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity are questions about whether we will survive as a species as well. People need to realize this.

k&r

-app

I can't even stand to watch nature shows on tv anymore - all I can think is gone, all gone...

One way or the other mankind is proving to be the most destructive life form on this planet, and it breaks my heart on a daily basis.

We humans make such a mess of things. We don't deserve this beautiful planet we've been given.

Invertebrates are different from you and me.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

Why anyone would think seven billion consumers is something to celebrate stumps me. It's a disaster.

disaster is right.


Welcome, S! :hi:

that's it. Now think of that for that beautiful animal.

Thanks for the thread, The Straight Story.

It's maybe one of the few good things about growing old. I despise what the human race is doing to the planet and I don't want to see the end result. I know that species have come and gone naturally in the life of the Earth, for millions of years before humankind. But what humans have done in just a few centuries, spreading to the far corners of the planet and multiplying beyond the ability of land or sea to support them, is worse than an extinction event. If it keeps going, there won't be a single species living in the wild because there will be no more wild. It will be worse than the Permian extinction event or the aftermath of the asteroid impact that ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Add an all-out nuclear war to the mix and there may be no more life at all, except for a few bacteria and insects.

In hopes that someday there will be a safe place to rerelease them in the wild. The San Diego Safari Park has been very successful at breeding some rare animals and starting new colonies in the wild, most notably with California condors when there were only around 13 left in the world.

Perhaps the world’s rarest and most endangered antelopes, the hirola is the sole survivor of a formerly diverse group, and is often referred to as a living fossil.

The family Bovidae (antelopes, cattle, bison, buffalo, goats and sheep) contains 50 Recent genera and 143 species. Nine subfamilies or 'tribes' are recognised. The hirola belongs to the subfamily Alcelaphinae (which includes hartebeests, wildebeests, and topi). This subfamily is thought to have diverged from the other bovid subfamilies during the early Miocene, probably as a result of the separation of the African and Eurasian continents. Major radiations took place within each alcelaphine tribe during the mid Miocene (15.3-12 million years ago), and again at the end of the Miocene (5.5 million years ago). The hirola lineage diverged during this final major radiation.


"There has been some debate over the hirola's taxonomic position, with some researchers placing it in the genus Damaliscus, along with the bontebok and blesbok (D. pygargus) and the topi (D. lunatus). However, recent molecular evidence indicates the hirola is sufficiently distinct from these species to be placed in a separate genus. Today most researchers regard it as the sole living representative of the genus Beatragus."

Source: http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=37

In plain english, it is either a member of a genus with several species, or as molecular biology now suggests, a member of a genus that has had only one species in it for a very long time. It is an ecological tragedy either way, but losing a "whole genus" sounds bigger. However, if that genus only had one surviving species for perhaps a million+ years, then losing the species and the genus are equivalent.

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