![]() We have all heard the phrases ‘as dead as a dodo’ or ‘going the way of the dodo’. The common name of this beautiful bird is firmly rooted into our language in a negative way. Wonderful painting of “Edwards’ Dodo” by Roelant Savery, 1626. And it’s squawk echoing through the empty forest as it calls for a mate. Perhaps a little ruffle of its feathers before it shuffles down to sleep. It’s long, flat scale covered toes gently crunching down on top of dead leaves as it plods through the forest looking for fruits to eat. For if a species is to vanish, there will always be just one left at the very end. A unique organism, a unique result of 4 billion years of evolution, lost.įor me, the saddest thing about extinction is the thought of that last individual. When an animal or plant is gone, it is gone. Each of the thousands of millions of species that have lived on this planet have been perfectly suited to their environment. A species isn’t more advanced or special because it survived an extinction event. For that to happen, stronger factors play a part climatic changes, continental drift, even volcanic eruptions on a small island can wipe out whole ecosystems. Rarely such circumstances alone lead to a loss of an entire species. Yet they do.Īn animal’s daily life is a struggle for survival: find the next meal, avoid being eaten. ![]() Species have no idea if they will vanish from the face of the Earth forever. ![]()
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