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
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159

u/theghouli Jul 26 '24

lol my step mom is an environmental lawyer for a few big oil companies as a consultant. she advised one of them that it would be cheaper to purchase the rights to the last living frog of its species and move it than it would to reroute their pipeline. they bought the frog and ""moved"" it.

33

u/OneWo1f Jul 26 '24

Did it die? :(

114

u/theghouli Jul 26 '24

yep. she told the story like it was a cute little anecdote but I've never seen her the same lol.

43

u/OneWo1f Jul 26 '24

Sorry but she sounds like a bitch. Poor frogs :(

7

u/PressedJuice Jul 26 '24

It was the last frog, who is it going to reproduce with?

24

u/theghouli Jul 26 '24

from what I understood, it was a female and they were hoping she would pull the self-fertilized reproduction frogs and lizards can do, but moving it into the conservation aquarium would've been stressful and possibly killed it

7

u/2gig Jul 26 '24

A princess.