What about the Red-Knot?
Until today, I didn't know this species of crab has actually survived and
thrived for hundreds of millions of years. While the dinosaurs were falling by the wayside, through ice ages, asteroids and all manner of other natural disasters, the horseshoe crab survived and eventually established a co-dependency with the red-knot.
The red-knot is a bird that migrates from the artic all the way to Tierra del Fuego, Chile every year. Halfway there, they stop along the eastern seaboard for a few weeks where they feed on horseshoe crab eggs they have been able to locate and reach from the surface. This sustenance alone provides them with the stamina and energy to continue the rest of their flight to Chile where their breeding grounds beckon them.
Rather than adversely impacting the horseshoe crab population, this kept them at a manageable level and the interdependcy created a win-win for both species. Then, beginning in the '90's, "man" enters the picture in his typical destructive, self-absorbed with no concern about impact, manner and begins to harvest thousands of crabs at a time for eel bait. Specifically, he decided it's the female crabs who are most tasty, severly limiting future egg production after years and years of this behavior.
This year for the first time, when researchers gathered in TdF to perform their annual census, there were no red-knots to be seen, not one. This is after counting only 80,000 last year, with the understanding that only 90,000 existed in the world in total.
The obvious concern is that yet another species has become extinct.
It would appear that man has been able in about 15 years to do what the natural elements of the world have not in hundreds of millions of years, to begin to exterminate the horseshoe crab, thereby driving the red-knots into extinction. The dominos just continue to fall.
posted by The Future @ 2:30 PM
3 Comments:
and yet, at the end of the day...i eat a crab. but the crab doesn't eat me.
i win.
But what about the red-knot?
Until recently humans have been woefully unaware of the complexity of symbiotic relationships between species. Because of the eradication of insects in China, fruit trees now must be pollinated by hand... an excruciatingly tedious process.
It is said that 99% of the species that ever existed are now extinct. And some scientists believe that "Biocide" is even more of a threat than global warming.
It does feel that sometimes the over-presence of man on this planet diminishes ALL life, including ours. And ultimately, it is just sad about the Red Knot... and the African Lion which is predicted to be extinct due to poisoning to protect raising beef. It does seem all too hopeless.
Post a Comment
<< Home