the-awkward-turt: useless-zoofacts: newts-in-hats: useless-zoofacts: frostgiants: the only good news
the-awkward-turt:useless-zoofacts:newts-in-hats:useless-zoofacts:frostgiants:the only good news to come out of 2016Amazing :3cOKAy good hooray pandas are saved.. NOW can we move onto putting money towards conservation of species that are more ecologically important? Because there are a lot.Every animal is important…also theyre not saved yet theyre still “Vulnerable” according to IUCNShe didn’t say pandas weren’t important she said they weren’t ecologically important. Which is true. The extinction of pandas would have a relatively minor ecological impact compared to a lot of other endangered animals that don’t get nearly as much money or attention. With the resources put towards panda conservation we could probably save every single species of amphibian threatened by chytrid and B. sal, or at least maintain assurance colonies of all amphibian species in captivity. Half of the world’s turtle and tortoise species are threatened with extinction and with the panda money we could probably save most of them. Or what about elephants, which in edition to being charismatic megafauna are also ecosystem engineers (even their footprints are habitat for lots of species) and are declining even faster than we thought? Or what about hooded vultures, which fight disease, clean up the ecosystem, and went from being the most numerous raptor on earth to critically endangered in 20 years? All those species are much more ecologically and scientifically valuable than pandas. Is it fair that we are putting all that money into saving a single species pretty much just because it is cute rather than saving probably hundreds of other species with that same amount of money? It is a tragedy to lose any species and I am genuinely happy for the pandas, it’s nice to hear a conservation success story for once, but you have to understand why a lot of conservationists are bitter about pandas. “Is it fair that we are putting all that money into saving a single species pretty much just because it is cute rather than saving probably hundreds of other species with that same amount of money?“^^^^^^^^^ -- source link
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