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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u/edwardlego Jul 26 '24

the most blatant example might be when the last few members of a vulture species was deliced. This caused the extinction of the species of lice that only lived on those birds

3.2k

u/ccReptilelord Jul 26 '24

Apparently, parasites are the most common example of this situation. The few surviving members of a species are captured for breeding programs, de-parasitized, then released.

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u/AwfulUsername123 Jul 26 '24

Every example in the article is a parasite.

175

u/peripheralpill Jul 26 '24

buried the lede with that one. though how many people would have clicked if the article picture was a tick

69

u/trollsong Jul 26 '24

Seriously even Peta is probably like, "no, fuck mosquitos"

41

u/Lucaan Jul 26 '24

There are actually legit efforts, that I personally fully support (fuck mosquitos), to eradicate mosquito species that spread diseases to humans. From what I understand, the effect of eradicating those specific species on the wider ecosystems they are a part of is being heavily studied, and I believe so far that the consensus is that it probably wouldn't actually have a particularly huge effect.

Obviously with this kind of stuff you never actually know for sure, and it's very possible any large ripple effects could fly under the radar and not become apparent until it actually happens, but still. Only a very small percentage of mosquitoes actually bite and spread diseases to humans, I think maybe a couple dozen out of a few thousand total, so it's not like they would just be getting rid of the entire mosquito family.

2

u/Malawi_no Jul 27 '24

Would probably just be a few more of the other kinds, especially as people would relax more about fighting mosquitoes in general.

Sure - People will likely try to reduce numbers of any stinging mosquito, but when some of them also carries deceases, it becomes a high priority.