11 Extinct Animals That Have Been Photographed Alive

It is always depressing to hear about species that are gone forever. Although I did smile for a moment as I pictured a “Far Side” comic like depiction of the last Ibex being found under a fallen tree.

I took a perfunctory look. I’d love a citation on the blanket statement “Animals are going extinct at a much higher rate now than through most of the earth’s history.”

Because it’s a well documented fact that over 99% of all species that ever lived are gone. It’s actually one of the most wonderful things about life – the eternal cycle. There are countless reasons why beautiful creatures die out, and having a few photos to see what some were is actually kind of nice.

But I’m not going to dwell on them.

“Animals are going extinct at a much higher rate now than through most of the earth’s history.” I doubt it. There were probably more extinctions when the dinosaurs became extinct.

Did anyone snap a pic of that last smallpox virus?

“The last Bubal Hartebeest was probably a female which died in the Paris Zoo in 1923.”

So, they weren’t sure if it was a female?

That’s why I said “most”. There have been bigger extinctions, but on a timeline of the earth’s history they take up a small space.

Ok, I’ll bite — why are extinctions somehow more prevalent now? Is there some scientific study you can point to? Considering how little we know now about what species inhabit the planet, any measurement of the number going extinct is nonsense. And the idea that we have any feel at all for the rate at which this occurred over the entire history of the earth is also complete drivel, moreso in fact.

Now I realize it’s there’s a human tendency to think the era in which we live is singularly special. Add to that the guilt and arrogance of thinking every bad thing that happens is somehow our fault and you end up with silly statements like yours. I’m sure a great many folks would nod their dopey little heads in agreement. But species have been evolving and dying off for billions of years. Humans, like every other living thing, have an effect on the survivability of other species on the planet, both positively and negatively. And the number of species we have a direct impact toward is tiny compared to the diverse fauna of earth (again, a number we still have no idea how to measure).

the bees may have an impact on us as a species. I’ve always been against the decision to remove homo sapiens from natural selection, officially. We could be removed as easily as a fruit fly. Neat, I know. But true. We could be taken out by other life forms, such as AIDS, cancer, superflu, or bird flu +5

Not to mention what happened to Dino. Yucatan crater, anyone? If an asteroid hit that was comparable (think the size of Texas), the entire planet would plunge into darkness, and there’d be no more funk. That would suck.