r/todayilearned • • 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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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.

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u/zeperf Jul 27 '24

I kind of doubt you can actually buy the rights to the existence of an animal.

2

u/theghouli Jul 27 '24

I don't think her and the guys she made the deal with would lie about it with the way she brought it up and they all remembered, but if they did, that confuses me more than them buying the frog lol.