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This was amazing: > A single locust swarm was once [in 1875] estimated to weigh 27 million tons, including (drum roll, please) ... 12 trillion insects. And th

This was amazing: > A single locust swarm was once [in 1875] estimated to weigh 27 million tons, including (drum roll, please) ... 12 trillion insects. And then: > Shockingly, 28 years after Albert saw that flock, Rocky Mountain locusts disappeared. Something wiped them out, totally. The last time humans saw a wild Rocky Mountain locust was in 1902. Wikipedia[1] says: > The cause of their extinction was probably the plowing and irrigation by settlers that disrupted the natural life cycle of the insects in the very small areas where they lived in between swarms. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_locust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_locust

computator 12y ago
When I think of animals that went extinct in human history, I imagine animals that were already marginal, weren't well-suited to the environment, and died off slowly over a very long period. The passenger pigeon example really caught me off guard: "The species went from being one of the most abundant birds in the world during the 19th century to extinction early in the 20th century"[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon
- pixl97 12y ago
  >Large flocks and communal breeding made the species highly vulnerable to hunting.[28] As the flocks dwindled in size, populations decreased below the threshold necessary to propagate the species.[81][82] Naturalist Paul R. Ehrlich wrote that its extinction "illustrates a very important principle of conservation biology: it is not always necessary to kill the last pair of a species to force it to extinction." The most important statement on its extinction.
TwoBit 12y ago
I'm pretty sure that swarm was very over-estimated. People had a habit of doing such things back then.

4 ms·

This was amazing: > A single locust swarm was once [in 1875] estimated to weigh 27 million tons, including (drum roll, please) ... 12 trillion insects. And th

by ggchappell 12y ago

computator 12y ago
When I think of animals that went extinct in human history, I imagine animals that were already marginal, weren't well-suited to the environment, and died off slowly over a very long period. The passenger pigeon example really caught me off guard: "The species went from being one of the most abundant birds in the world during the 19th century to extinction early in the 20th century"[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon
- pixl97 12y ago
  >Large flocks and communal breeding made the species highly vulnerable to hunting.[28] As the flocks dwindled in size, populations decreased below the threshold necessary to propagate the species.[81][82] Naturalist Paul R. Ehrlich wrote that its extinction "illustrates a very important principle of conservation biology: it is not always necessary to kill the last pair of a species to force it to extinction." The most important statement on its extinction.
TwoBit 12y ago
I'm pretty sure that swarm was very over-estimated. People had a habit of doing such things back then.