Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Extinction
Every so often, and lately, more often than not, you read some article or another deploring the fact that some critter or plant is going extinct. I can't really see a problem with that. That's the way things go. Things live and they adapt to their conditions. The cockroach has been living for millions of years virtually unchanged in basic form. Obviously that has been a very good version. Thankfully, things like the dinosaurs haven't been quite so able to adapt. How many of us would be willing to swap out our place so t-rex and friends could continue.
The loss of species is going to happen. I don't think artificially keeping them going is the answer. If the only place to see the sable-bellied, bug-eyed, dwarf salamander is going to be the reptile display at the Los Angeles zoo, why bother - let them die off in peace. And you know what? I'm not going to miss them. Same for all those odd bits and pieces that only exist in some little three acre meadow in Outer Mongolia, or for that matter, in some empty lot in downtown Detroit. Stuff dies and other stuff comes along to replace it. Obviously the species to die off didn't have what it takes to survive. Let the replacement take over and see what happens next. The results can't be much worse that what's happened since us mammals elbowed out the dinosaurs.
Labels: gripes
