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26-01-2024
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Extinct great auk, a large seabird that also occurred in the Netherlands.
Everyone knows the story of the dodo, but who knows how the golden toad, great auk, Fernandéz sandal tree and Tasmanian tiger met their end? And why is it important to know those stories? In his book ‘Speciocide’, Robert-Jan Trügg portrays twenty species that have become (almost) extinct due to humans.
A new but important term
By speciocide, Trügg means “when a species […] is (almost) extinct due to human actions, or its continued existence is seriously threatened by humans.” The word is missing from the Dikke van Dale, but according to the author it should be included: “The extinction of animal and plant species is linguistically portrayed as something passive. ‘They are extinct’.”
“Also in English they say ‘they went extinct’. Like it just happens.” While most species become extinct due to human actions. “Clear naming may make it easier for us to become aware of what is happening at the moment and that something is very wrong.”
Atitlán fuut
A striking example is the Atitlán grebe, a water bird that only occurred in Lago de Atitlán, a high-altitude lake in Guatemala. The airline Pan Am decided to organize fishing trips to the lake. Because only small fish species and freshwater crabs lived there, large bass were stocked there.
The rest is anyone’s guess. The bass eat the food of the grebes and the young grebes. The Atitlán grebe rapidly declined and became extinct in 1989 after several unsuccessful rescue attempts.
The book ‘Speciocide, (almost) extinct by humans’ is now available in bookstores.
2024-01-28 15:15:37
#Speciocide #extinct #humans #Early #Birds #BNNVARA
