Extinction Awareness Day

Today's focus is on a "lesser" known extinct creature.  With the extinction of the Caribbean Monk Seal in 1952, another animal also faced its extinction, the Caribbean Monk Seal Nasal Mite. As its name suggests this little mite lived in the nasal passage (the nose) of the Caribbean monk seal.  The only specimens of this mite were recovered from a single seal. The Caribbean Monk Seal Nasal Mite was so specialized that it could only live in the nose of this particular species of seal. When the Caribbean monk seals started disappearing so did the needed "habitat" for this mite. Mites are related to ticks. There are over 48,200 different species of mites including the dust mite which live in carpets of our homes and affects many allergy sufferers.  Many mite species eat decaying matter that creates new soil.  Some species, like their cousins the ticks, feed on blood, and many are specialized to a specific species of animal, like those found on honey bees. Ad...

5 billion is a large number, and that is about how many passenger pigeons were once thought to flood the skies in the eastern part of the United States.  The male Passenger Pigeon was 16 inches long with a bluish gray head and orange chest.  Their back was an olive color with black spots.  The female was slightly smaller and all that olive color. The Passenger Pigeon were a very speedy bird, clocking in at 62 mph. The Passenger Pigeon gets its name from the French word, passager , which means "passing by" because huge flocks were always migrating or passing through. In fact, in Ontario in 1866 one flock was estimated to be one mile wide and 300 miles wide.  It blacked the sky for 14 straight hours and scientists estimate this one flock may have held 3.5 billion pigeons.  It was also reported that after one of these immense flocks past it looked like it had snowed because of all of the poop left behind. The Passenger Pigeons large numbers and extremely soci...

There were a series of lasts for the Passenger Pigeons. 1) The last nesting pair = 1895 2) The last wild one = shot with a bb gun by 12 year old Press Clay Southworth in Sargents, Ohio on March 22, 1900 3) Martha dies at Cincinnati Zoo at 1pm on September 1, 1914. This post is will discus Martha's last days and travels since her death.  Martha was given to the Cincinnati Zoo by Charles Otis Whitman in 1902 though some sources say Martha was hatched at the zoo.  Martha and her cage mate, George, were named after George and Martha Washington. By 1909, Martha and 2 males, were the last Passenger Pigeons in existence. George died on July 10, 1910, leaving Martha the sole representative of her once abundant species. Martha grew older and people visiting the zoo would often throw handfuls of sand at her to get her to move.  The zoo decided to rope off her cage. It is thought that Martha was 29 years old at the time of her death. Her body was frozen in a bloc...

Delhi Sands Flower-Loving Fly (image from wikipedia) Billy was a little boy who grew up in the California town of Colton He loved being outside when the sun shone down in rays of golden He visited the old sand dunes there, but hated the flies Buzzing all about him;  into his ears and passed his eyes His mom said stay away from the bugs there;  because they carry much disease If all the flies disappeared, young Billy would be quite pleased. He formulated a detailed plan and crafted a crafty plot To destroy all the Flower-loving flies in the dunes, he’d do what he ought Billy formulated a plan and went to enlist his friends To be sure the Delhi Sands fly would come to an end He posted a sign on the edge of the dune That boasted that flies would be gone soon He’d pay each neighborhood kid to swat every fly That is how he’d make sure they all died. He gleefully skipped down the street And thought of no buzzing and how it’d be sweet. Billy s...

When animals live without danger from hunting or spears They tend to lose inhibition and are free from any fears. The Falkland Island Fox was such a case Because they had no fear they didn’t last long when they met the human race. Darwin visited the islands and predicted it wouldn’t last long And it was hunted to extinction after towns were started by Captain John Strong From 1692 until their demise in 1876 People were scared of them and killed these friendly canines with meat and sticks. The next creature tale is a slight mystery As there are still reports of it living since it was last seen in a zoo for a few years after 1933 The Tasmanian tiger was first reported by a French sailor in 1792 But what it was exactly the sailor didn’t have a clue It was striped like a tiger and looked like a wolf with a huge jaw But it was really a pouched marsupial predator and not a dog at all Farmers started tilling the soil and creating their farms And blamed the tas...

Here is another lesser known extinct animal coming from Tasmania, the Lake Pedder Earthworm.  This earthworm is only known from a single specimen collected in 1971 before the instillation of a hydroelectric dam in the area.   The Lake Pedder Earthworm was 55 mm long and 1.6 mm in diameter.  This specimen had 129 body segments.  It was a pinkish brown color.  Nothing is known about its habits, but it was thought to eat algae and and organic matter in the sand.  Nothing is known about the life cycle of this earthworm.  It is thought each individual was both male and female and would lay its eggs in a cocoon in the soil, since this is a characteristic of most earthworms. In 1996, a team was put together to survey the Lake Pedder region for this earthworm, but once its habitat was flooded to create the hydro-electric dam, the Lake Pedder Earthworm was never seen again.   It is believed to have gone extinct in 1972 once the Lake Pedder region w...

The Yunnan Lake Newt (YLN) was a newt that lived in the region in and around Kunming Lake in the Yunnan Providence in China.  The YLN was about an inch long and the male and female coloration varied slightly. The Yunnan Lake Newt was last seen in 1979.  As the cities around its lake habitat increased, its population plummeted. Amphibians like frogs, salamanders, and newts are extremely vulnerable to pollution because they absorb water, oxygen, and even toxins through their porous skin.  There are many concerns for many amphibian species today (see 2nd link below). Besides pollution, habitat loss for increased housing also took its toll on the YLN population.  The addition of invasive species were the nail in the coffin for this species.  The newts couldn't compete with the addition of domestic ducks, exotic fish and frogs added to the lake. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: http://www.edgeofexistence.org/amphibians/species_info.php?id=1367 http://frogsaregreen.o...