Bioparanoria

Most people are somewhat familiar with the fact that several mammalian species have gone extinct due to human activity over the past few centuries. However, it may be surprising to comprehend that the number of mammals lost recently goes well into the dozens. As a partial list of post-1500 CE mammalian extinctions , this page is a primer to the gap humanity has left in nature. There are few megafaunas here, with most species being on the smaller side. Rodents in particular are well represented. Still, the loss of a species of rat or mouse is just as much of a tragedy as that of more charismatic icons of extinction, such as sea cows or thylacines. Environmental conservation is about preserving all lifeforms, and the plight of small organisms is too often overlooked. Often, species here are extinct as the result of invasive predators or competitors, such as red foxes. Note too that many species originate on islands such as Madagascar or Samoa. Islands are fragile laboratories for cre...

In the electronic age, it’s easier than at any time in history to find photographs, films, illustrations, and paintings of exotic animals. This is a relatively recent change that we are privileged to experience and it can be starkly strange to realize that the vast majority of people throughout history never knew about or saw, for example, a kangaroo. The global diaspora of large charismatic wildlife in menageries, zoos, and circuses is another fairly modern development. There are currently hundreds of giraffes in European zoos, a few centuries ago that number was zero. This is the story of Zarafa, a giraffe that proved to be a great curiosity to 19th-century Europeans and who is still the focus of fascination and remembrance to this day. Governments gifting exotic animals to other states must be one of the oldest forms of international diplomacy. Rhinoceroses and elephants were common creatures to receive such treatment, though the species that stands out in recent decades has been th...

 The archipelagos of Oceania have been an epicenter of the sixth mass extinction, with many unique species unequipped to handle the arrival of mankind. Flightless birds in particular were vulnerable to invasive species, deforestation, and human overhunting. Few of these ecological losses have been more tragic than that of the many moas that once thrived on Aotearoa. There were at least nine species of these large ratites, the largest of which stood at over eleven feet high at its tallest. The moas were long gone by the time of European contact, having been slaughtered by the Māori. Because of their recent demise, along with the unique climate of New Zealand, Moa fossils are rather abundant helping ornithologists best understand these forest behemoths. Some remains have been naturally mummified by dry cold conditions, allowing great detail including skin and flesh to be excellently preserved, such as this eerie head. As with many other recently extinct species, sightings did n...

 Note that some of this text is adapted from an earlier writing of mine, published elsewhere on the internet. The 70s and 80s were a golden age of cryptozoology, something that is unlikely to be ever replicated again. The notion that these animals of folklore could still be existing in some remote tropical forest or mountain range was actually getting a fair amount of press, not just from the mainstream media but from a few academics as well. The superstars of the art of researching “hidden animals”, Tim Dinsdale, John Green, Bernard Heuvelmans, Grover Krantz, Roy Mackal, and John R. Napier were all active, bitten by that wonderful and childlike belief that monsters do exist not just in our imaginations. “Yes Virginia, there is a Loch Ness Monster and we’ll find him any day now!” Those hopeful days are long gone. The cryptids were all no-shows, so society had no choice other than to stop daydreaming and face the unfantastic reality of it all. But it’s certainly worth it to look bac...

The "mammoth" (or is it?) in the tomb of Rekhmire On many occasions, there have been times in which unusual animals are depicted in ancient artwork, often leading to lengthy conversation and debate in the zoological literature. While we can handwave these illustrations as being stylized or inaccurate in their renderings of fauna (the notion that ancient peoples didn’t have imaginations or bad artists is such an untrue and bizarre idea), there is as well the possibility that they are meant to show actual oddities of nature that are lost to time. Each instance should therefore be considered on a case-by-case basis. One famous example, the subject of today’s post, is of a figure seen on the tomb decorations of Rekhmire , a nobleman from the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt the time period in which the North African empire was at the height of its power and influence. Rekhmire was an extremely minor figure in the long history of Egypt, but his tomb was recovered in great preservatio...

     I quite like zoological gardens and aquariums, for reasons that I hope to properly outline in this text. True, zoos can be noisy and crowded, but upon rare days in which it's just you and the animals, the experiences can be fantastic, allowing one to form a better appreciation of wildlife. I credit frequent trips to zoos as a young child as a key factor in my respect for the natural world. There's a lot of controversy surrounding zoos, some justifiable and some not. Unfortunately, I can't help but find those who write off all zoos as being "bad" are uneducated on the history of zoological gardens and their many conservation achievements. A Komodo Dragon at Singapore Zoo      As a better understanding of both the philosophy of animal welfare and the science of zoology has developed over the past few decades, the important question has arisen on if zoological gardens and aquariums are to be considered useful or ethical institutions. Many defenders claim ...