This is a thread that @earth should contribute to.
We have not heard from him for far too long, but he would have some good insights into this issue.
1 Like
Somewhat interesting
1 Like
The more interesting thing is why he wasn’t able to take a photo.
One thing I’ll never be able to understand and it clearly and “each to their own” thing, is the hunting of animals.
3 Likes
And Bigfoot.
Depending what animals. I’m not not one of those that would go big game hunting but in my younger days I didn’t mind a bit of roo shooting or wild pig hunting. I haven’t had a gun or gun license for many years though
1 Like
Well In the Thylacines case, because the price on their head was the equivalent to a months wages in today’s money.
Whilst I don’t hunt, i used to fish a bit. Take what you need to eat and then you’re done. Still feels pretty brutal at times.
1 Like
No start with the islander and other nationalities who have 3-7 kids and need people movers because they believe in big families.
Time to start introducing 2 kid limits.
most Christian denominations in the bin too, anti-contraception types.
I’m in the it’s gone now bandwagon and cloning is the best chance we would have of seeing one again. But this footage from the late 10’s raises some questions.
It’s incredibly sad, fossil remains of thylacine species date back to as old as 50 million years. It only took 150 years of colonisation to wipe them out.
■■■■■■■ tragic.
2 Likes
Not nearly as tragic as the extermination of Indigenous Tasmanians though …
2 Likes
I have no problem with it.
Just the guns and knifes, and crossbows.
If someone wants to try and punch a bear to death, or bring down a lion, I’m all for it.
3 Likes
I’ve held the belief for a while that the desire for the thylacine to not be extinct in Tassie is referred guilt for what happened to Tasmanian aboriginals.
Not even for population control or acquisition of delicious meats?
Cloning would probably be pretty expensive to do, when the funds could be spent on conserving habitats.
It’s a while ago, but at uni we read a case study that related to the Sumatran(?) rhino. And the cost of relocating the remaining wild species, and trying to get a captive breeding program happening. Would’ve been cheaper to buy the entire rainforest they lived in, which would’ve saved a shed load more fauna and flora at the same time.
The planet is cooked until the current civilisation dies or reigns units resource consumption.
1 Like
We won’t be cloning the thylacine. I was (very peripherally) involved in the cloning research effort about 10 years ago. There’s no DNA left that’s even remotely viable, it’s all from tanned hides and formaldehyde-preserved joeys, and the chemical treatment has turned the DNA to sludge.
Even if we could find DNA, the problems would be monstrous. What animal do you use to carry the joeys to term? Tiger quolls are the only real option based on size and genetic nearness, but even so, they’re a LOT smaller than thylacines and ‘near relation’ is only in comparison to other possibilities. It’s be like sticking a gorilla embryo in a spider monkey. And how would you stop the mother’s immune system killing the thing? How would a massively undersized quoll mother produce enough milk to feed a gigantic thylacine baby? Not to mention that marsupials get a lot of their gut flora, immune system etc from their mother. We have no IDEA what thylacine gut bacteria should be like.
Not to mention that tiger quolls are rare enough as it is and would be well advised to focus on producing more tiger quolls rather than being shoved in a lab and forced to become pregnant with grotesqualy oversized Frankensteinian quasi-thylacines in a vain effort to pretend that all of humanity’s mistakes are reversible.
4 Likes
Local plumber had a brown Staffy .Plumbers wife a hairdresser, he got her to dye some brown stripes on its back similar to a Thylacine. I chuckled every time I saw it.
1 Like
Nope, not even for a second.
that’s the thing, there’s stuff that can happen that’s out of people’s control
Reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles may have triggered Neanderthal extinction – and it could happen again
During this time, Earth’s inhabitants would have been subjected to some dazzling displays – northern and southern lights, caused by solar winds hitting the Earth’s atmosphere, would have been frequent.
(CNN) — The reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles, along with a temporary breakdown of the world’s magnetic field about 42,000 years ago, could have triggered a raft of environmental changes, solar storms and the extinction of the Neanderthals, according to a new study.
The Earth’s magnetic field protects us, acting as a shield against the solar wind (a stream of charged particles and radiation) that flows out from the sun. But the geomagnetic field is not stable in strength and direction, and it has the ability to flip or reverse itself.
Some 42,000 years ago, in an event known as the Laschamp Excursion, the poles did just that for around 800 years, before swapping back – but scientists were unsure exactly how or if it impacted the world.
Now, a team of researchers from Sydney’s University of New South Wales and the South Australian Museum say the flip, along with changing solar winds, could have triggered an array of dramatic climate shifts leading to environmental change and mass extinctions.
Scientists analyzed the rings found in ancient New Zealand kauri trees, some which had been preserved in sediments for more than 40,000 years, to create a timescale of how Earth’s atmosphere changed over time.
Using radiocarbon dating, the team studied cross sections of the trees – whose annual growth rings served as a natural time stamp – to track the changes in radiocarbon levels during the pole reversal.
“Using the ancient trees we could measure, and date, the spike in atmospheric radiocarbon levels caused by the collapse of Earth’s magnetic field,” Chris Turney, a professor at UNSW Science, director of the university’s Earth and Sustainability Science Research Center and co-lead author of the study, said in a statement.
The team compared their new timescale with site records from caves, ice cores and peat bogs around the world.
‘End of days’
Researchers found that the reversal led to “pronounced climate change.” Their modeling showed that ice sheet and glacier growth in North America and shifts in major wind belts and tropical storm systems could be traced back to the period of the magnetic pole switch, which scientists named the “Adams Event.”
“Effectively, the Earth’s magnetic field almost disappeared, and it opened the planet up to all these high energy particles from outer space. It would’ve been an incredibly scary time, almost like the end of days,” Turney said.
Researchers say the Adams Event could explain many of Earth’s evolutionary mysteries, including the extinction of Neanderthals and the sudden widespread appearance of figurative art in caves worldwide.
The phenomenon would have led to some dramatic and dazzling events. In the lead-up to the Adams Event, the Earth’s magnetic field dropped to only 0% to 6% of its strength, while the Sun experienced several long lasting periods of quiet solar activity.
“We essentially had no magnetic field at all – our cosmic radiation shield was totally gone,” Turney said.
The weakening of the magnetic field meant that more space weather, such as solar flares and galactic cosmic rays, could head to Earth.
“Unfiltered radiation from space ripped apart air particles in Earth’s atmosphere, separating electrons and emitting light – a process called ionisation,” said Turney in a statement. “The ionised air ‘fried’ the Ozone layer, triggering a ripple of climate change across the globe.”
During this time, Earth’s inhabitants would have been subjected to some dazzling displays – northern and southern lights, caused by solar winds hitting the Earth’s atmosphere, would have been frequent. Meanwhile, the ionized air would’ve increased the frequency of electrical storms – something that scientists think caused humans to seek shelter in caves.
“The common cave art motif of red ochre handprints may signal it was being used as sunscreen, a technique still used today by some groups,” Alan Cooper, honorary researcher at the South Australian Museum, said in a statement.
“The amazing images created in the caves during this time have been preserved, while other art out in open areas has since eroded, making it appear that art suddenly starts 42,000 years ago,” Cooper, co-lead author, added.
An upcoming reversal
In the paper, published in the journal Science, experts say there is currently rapid movement of the north magnetic pole across the Northern Hemisphere – which could signal another reversal is on the cards.
“This speed – alongside the weakening of Earth’s magnetic field by around nine per cent in the past 170 years – could indicate an upcoming reversal,” said Cooper.
“If a similar event happened today, the consequences would be huge for modern society. Incoming cosmic radiation would destroy our electric power grids and satellite networks,” he said.
Human activity has already pushed carbon in the atmosphere to levels “never seen by humanity before,” Cooper said.
“A magnetic pole reversal or extreme change in Sun activity would be unprecedented climate change accelerants. We urgently need to get carbon emissions down before such a random event happens again,” he added.