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Why should we save endangered species from going extinct?
by baddash 8y ago
Why should we save endangered species from going extinct?
- alex_young 8y agoWhy shouldn't we kill all the weakest lifeforms on the planet? What could possibly go wrong?
- baddash 8y ago"It's obvious that killing all the weakest lifeforms on this planet would cause bad things to happen" I made what you were stating clearer. Why would not saving endangered species lead to all the weakest lifeforms on the planet going extinct? Is it the fate of all of those lifeforms to go extinct without human intervention?
- KozmoNau7 8y agoThe vast majority of endangered species are endangered because of human activities.
- monocasa 8y agoYep. Specifically, just to hit this point home, the impact of humans is an extinction event comparable to the Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event, or the impact that killed off the dinosaurs. Who(or what)ever exists billions of years from now will be able to view the immensity of our impact assuming they still have the tools we have today.
- bad_user 8y agoTo place things in perspective, all wildlife that isn’t domesticated (livestock) or adapted to live in polluted cities (e.g. rats, dogs, pigeons) are now in danger of extinction due to humans. Even insects. It’s only a matter of time before we kill off what remains and you have to wonder, if we made earth so inhospitable to life, for how long can we survive ourselves?
- coldtea 8y ago"It's obvious that we know jack-shit about what could possibly go wrong and environmental dependencies -- so better not go extinguishing lifeforms since we've evolved our means of extinction beyond what natural nature cycles allow". That's a much better formulation. It doesn't have to be "obvious that killing all the weakest lifeforms on this planet would cause bad things to happen" not to do it. It just has to be possible and uncertain.
- derekp7 8y agoMultiple reasons, one of which is that once a species is gone there is no way to get it back. Also, consider reasons that people want to save historical structures, or preserve old / rare works of art. Or why someone would pay money to a vet to save their pet. If you saw a fire spreading and was threatening someone's house, would you call the fire department, or otherwise attempt to stop it? Why or why not? Do you back up the data on your computer? Do you wonder why anyone takes pictures in order to preserve a moment in time, and would be upset if all their family photos got destroyed?
- chr1 8y agoWould storing genomes be enough, similar to backing up data until it is needed?
- Arnt 8y agoOnly if you assume that being reared by older animals of the same species doesn't matter.
- KineticLensman 8y ago> Would storing genomes be enough, similar to backing up data until it is needed? I don't think so, because many of the endangered animals are representative of entire ecosystems. Consider orang-utans and the forests they inhabit (many of which are being destroyed to collect palm-oil). If the animals have gone, it is even harder to make people want to preserve their environments in the face of relentless commercial pressure. Some endangered animals also help shape the ecosystems, e.g. when they are apex predators. Once the animals are gone, recreating their communities is significantly harder. As stated elsewhere, most animals are better raised by their own species rather than humans outside the cage. For primates (e.g. woolly monkeys) individuals that have been raised in isolation in captivity also don't make good parents when they do eventually breed, sometimes abandoning viable young.
- manicdee 8y agoProtecting endangered species isn’t just about protecting a specific set of DNA, as per the article about reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone.
- rangibaby 8y agowatch Star Trek IV (serious)
- francisofascii 8y ago"to hunt a species to extinction is not logical"
- pvaldes 8y agoBecause if we don't care we'll soon find us in serious trouble when the environmental chores that they bring will suddently stop.
- coldtea 8y agoBasic decency when their extinction is caused by us?
- manicdee 8y agoHere is one famous case study: https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduc... The thing is that an ecosystem is a complex biological machine. When we go pulling out tiny sprockets from the machine, things break in ways we can’t predict and often don’t expect. I am far less concerned about an asteroid hitting Earth and ending life as we know it, than I am about farmers eradicating insect “pests” leading to the collapse of life as we know it.