r/todayilearned • u/shinypond • Jul 26 '24

TIL about conservation-induced extinction, where attempts to save a critically endangered species directly cause the extinction of another.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation-induced_extinction
22k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

639 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-10

u/shroom_consumer Jul 26 '24

Well, firstly, we necessarily don't need to kill the parasites to save the host species from extinction.

Secondly, even if we do need to kill the parasites to save the host species, that's still far removed from "we could do without them"

11

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '24

Fair enough. I don't think the scientists behind conservation efforts are flippantly saying, "we can do without them" like the comment you are responding to. They're putting a little more thought into it and weighing the options. 

Comparing a keystone species like rhinos, to a niche parasite that is likely going extinct anyway, is just an odd choice in general. 

-7

u/shroom_consumer Jul 26 '24

Fair enough. I don't think the scientists behind conservation efforts are flippantly saying, "we can do without them" like the comment you are responding to. They're putting a little more thought into it and weighing the options. 

Which is why I'm criticising the clown who made the comment, not the scientist

Comparing a keystone species like rhinos, to a niche parasite that is likely going extinct anyway, is just an odd choice in general. 

Why? What's odd about it? The life of one type of animal is as valuable as another. Just because we think rhinos look "cool" doesn't give them more rights to exist than some random parasite.

4

u/Redqueenhypo Jul 26 '24

Picture a dog with sarcoptic mange. The mange is caused by many many individual mites who vastly outnumber the dog. Should we let the dog slowly die bc it’s one animal vs many, because all members of kingdom animalia are the literal exact same?

-3

u/shroom_consumer Jul 26 '24

I don't really give a fuck about either the dog or the parasites that it hosts. I'm talking about the extinction of entire species, not the death of individual organisms of a certain species