Comments on: Top 10 Extinct Creatures That Aren’t Extinct http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/ Ultimate Top 10 Lists - Listverse Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:09:18 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Kelly Riley http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-228444 Kelly Riley Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:05:56 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-228444 Can I just say, that the Mountain Pygmy Possum is precious and I would LOOOVE to have one as a pet??? Can I just say, that the Mountain Pygmy Possum is precious and I would LOOOVE to have one as a pet???

]]> By: Kris http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-227498 Kris Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:57:16 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-227498 Cool. I live in East London (the tiny town in South Africa, not England) where the Coelocanth was discoverd! We even have like a museum with it and everything. Cool. I live in East London (the tiny town in South Africa, not England) where the Coelocanth was discoverd! We even have like a museum with it and everything.

]]> By: Mark http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-225638 Mark Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:06:31 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-225638 @kath (<a href='#comment-215935' rel="nofollow">90</a>): I'm too a student and I like the paleontology. I'm from Cuba and I'm still learning english. I would like to have friends that know about the subject and chat with them. Not only paleontology but physics, cosmology and languanges. @kath (90): I’m too a student and I like the paleontology. I’m from Cuba and I’m still learning english. I would like to have friends that know about the subject and chat with them.
Not only paleontology but physics, cosmology and languanges.

]]> By: Mark http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-225625 Mark Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:52:38 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-225625 I am learning english and I like the subject of this site. I'd like to chat with someone or find a chatroom where we can talk about this. I am learning english and I like the subject of this site. I’d like to chat with someone or find a chatroom where we can talk about this.

]]> By: Mark http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-225623 Mark Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:50:37 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-225623 I think we should be lookin for the Megalodon(Gigant Shark) because I hope it still exist in deep waters,I mean not we but the scientist I think we should be lookin for the Megalodon(Gigant Shark) because I hope it still exist in deep waters,I mean not we but the scientist

]]> By: Davy http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-219933 Davy Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:04:56 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-219933 Holy crap number 1 is weird. That fish looks like it can bite off your head. Holy crap number 1 is weird. That fish looks like it can bite off your head.

]]> By: kath http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-215938 kath Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:41:36 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-215938 6 Mountain Pygmy Possum I hate this animal 6
Mountain Pygmy Possum

I hate this animal

]]> By: kath http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-215937 kath Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:40:03 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-215937 “I find it so funny how animals are supposedly evolving at break neck speed, but then there are all these other animals that haven’t changed even a tiny little bit from fossils that are claimed to be hundreds of millions of years old. The coelacanth being a prime example.” The genus Latimeria (the one to which both living coelocanth species belong) is not as similar to fossil forms as most people claim, and iirc has no known fossil record (considering the deep-water habitats of the living forms, that’s not really a surprise)… Philip DeVries is now a well known presenter of TV Natural History programmes. We bought his ‘Butterflies of Costa Rica’ when we spent a short holiday there in 1997. That’s his ‘proper’ job. (The butterflies were lovely, but so complicated to identify we ended up ‘doing’ the birds.) In vol.2, asked to explain his work (actually describing and publishing for science hitherto unknown species of Central American butterflies), DeVries wrote on the opening page that he gives the following terse answer: “I write epitaphs for a living.” No moa, no moa, In old Ao-tea-roa. Can’t get ‘em. They’ve et ‘em; They’ve gone and there ain’t no moa! Thought you’d really appreciate that, Jamie. I dug it out of Ed (E.O.) Wilson’s ‘The Diversity of Life’ (1992). This is a seminal book that anyone with the slightest concern for what is happening (going wrong) with this planet ought to read. “Extinction is the most obscure and local of all biological processes. We don’t see the last butterfly of its species snatched from the air by a bird or the last orchid of a certain kind killed by the collapse of its supporting tree in some distant mountain forest.” (E.O. Wilson, op. cit.) Yours was an excellent comment Slickwilly: that a species takes thousands (actually more likely hundreds of thousands to millions) of generations to evolve should tell us exactly what the loss of JUST ONE SPECIES means. We are now so far above the background rate of extinction (i.e., with no appreciable human intervention) that biologists calculate VERY CONSERVATIVELY we shall have lost 5-10 percent of all species on earth in thirty years time. That is based on current known rates and existing acceleration. Many put it much higher. There are two linked aspects to this situation, biodiversity (quality) and biomass (quantity). We are only addressing the former here, and believe me, I am thrilled those charismatics above are still with us, but I have to say we are whistling in the dark here rather than congratulating ourselves. We could all too easily do a similar list, or two, or three, of species that have gone extinct in our lifetimes. Biomass is effectively the collectivity of organisms; their weight or numbers. Apparently there is more weight of ants on the Earth than human beings! But loss of biomass is one of the critical precursors of extinction. I wonder how many of you know that some species of penguin are down to a third of their numbers of a mere 30 years ago. Yes, 30 years ago. Concerning numbers, there is also a critical population level below which species cannot recover. (It differs from species to species.) Ought I to mention the passenger pigeon as an example on the 4th of July? That’s enough from me for now, but do, please read Wilson. Oh, yeah. Something we all forgot. Conan Doyle’s Lost World was a false alarm, but those of us who’ve seen the ‘Jurassic Park’ trilogy know just how many cute little critters, supposedly extinct, are still hanging in on an island off Central America. There was even a rumour of a formation of pterosaurs breaking out towards the mainland last time I heard. “I find it so funny how animals are supposedly evolving at break neck speed, but then there are all these other animals that haven’t changed even a tiny little bit from fossils that are claimed to be hundreds of millions of years old.
The coelacanth being a prime example.”
The genus Latimeria (the one to which both living coelocanth species belong) is not as similar to fossil forms as most people claim, and iirc has no known fossil record (considering the deep-water habitats of the living forms, that’s not really a surprise)…
Philip DeVries is now a well known presenter of TV Natural History programmes. We bought his ‘Butterflies of Costa Rica’ when we spent a short holiday there in 1997. That’s his ‘proper’ job. (The butterflies were lovely, but so complicated to identify we ended up ‘doing’ the birds.)
In vol.2, asked to explain his work (actually describing and publishing for science hitherto unknown species of Central American butterflies), DeVries wrote on the opening page that he gives the following terse answer:
“I write epitaphs for a living.”
No moa, no moa,
In old Ao-tea-roa.
Can’t get ‘em.
They’ve et ‘em;
They’ve gone and there ain’t no moa!

Thought you’d really appreciate that, Jamie.

I dug it out of Ed (E.O.) Wilson’s ‘The Diversity of Life’ (1992).

This is a seminal book that anyone with the slightest concern for what is happening (going wrong) with this planet ought to read.

“Extinction is the most obscure and local of all biological processes. We don’t see the last butterfly of its species snatched from the air by a bird or the last orchid of a certain kind killed by the collapse of its supporting tree in some distant mountain forest.” (E.O. Wilson, op. cit.)

Yours was an excellent comment Slickwilly: that a species takes thousands (actually more likely hundreds of thousands to millions) of generations to evolve should tell us exactly what the loss of JUST ONE SPECIES means. We are now so far above the background rate of extinction (i.e., with no appreciable human intervention) that biologists calculate VERY CONSERVATIVELY we shall have lost 5-10 percent of all species on earth in thirty years time. That is based on current known rates and existing acceleration. Many put it much higher.

There are two linked aspects to this situation, biodiversity (quality) and biomass (quantity). We are only addressing the former here, and believe me, I am thrilled those charismatics above are still with us, but I have to say we are whistling in the dark here rather than congratulating ourselves. We could all too easily do a similar list, or two, or three, of species that have gone extinct in our lifetimes.

Biomass is effectively the collectivity of organisms; their weight or numbers. Apparently there is more weight of ants on the Earth than human beings! But loss of biomass is one of the critical precursors of extinction. I wonder how many of you know that some species of penguin are down to a third of their numbers of a mere 30 years ago. Yes, 30 years ago.

Concerning numbers, there is also a critical population level below which species cannot recover. (It differs from species to species.) Ought I to mention the passenger pigeon as an example on the 4th of July?

That’s enough from me for now, but do, please read Wilson.

Oh, yeah. Something we all forgot. Conan Doyle’s Lost World was a false alarm, but those of us who’ve seen the ‘Jurassic Park’ trilogy know just how many cute little critters, supposedly extinct, are still hanging in on an island off Central America. There was even a rumour of a formation of pterosaurs breaking out towards the mainland last time I heard.

]]> By: kath http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-215936 kath Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:36:42 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-215936 hi! I'm from the philippines and we have lots of extinct animals here we lost the tamarraw and we have endangered species here like the tarsier your friend in the philippines, kathryn orcales! reportin' hi!

I’m from the philippines and we have lots of extinct animals here

we lost the tamarraw
and we have endangered species here like the tarsier

your friend in the philippines,
kathryn orcales!
reportin’

]]> By: kath http://listverse.com/2008/06/03/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-215935 kath Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:33:08 +0000 http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/#comment-215935 hi! uhmm I'd like to know more extinct animals and not just almost extinct I;m a grade five student and I joined science club we'll be needing those information please send more to me! your fellow student, kathryn orcales hi!

uhmm I’d like
to know more extinct animals and not just
almost extinct
I;m a grade five student and I joined science club we’ll be

needing those information please send more to me!
your fellow student,
kathryn orcales

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