Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If there is no place for these animals to live in a natural setting....keeping them bred for zoos just seems cruel.
I was just hearing on the radio today that while most extinctions are due mostly to habitat loss, that is not what killed the white rhino. It was actual killing, with guns, etc. These creatures were killed to make pseudo medicine and knife handles from their horns. Human beings purposefully, willfully killed them to extinction. I'm sure they would kill the last two females in captivity if they could make a profit.
I was just hearing on the radio today that while most extinctions are due mostly to habitat loss, that is not what killed the white rhino. It was actual killing, with guns, etc. These creatures were killed to make pseudo medicine and knife handles from their horns. Human beings purposefully, willfully killed them to extinction. I'm sure they would kill the last two females in captivity if they could make a profit.
No doubt and the callousness exhibited by some posters here is widespread across the planet with the belief that some animals serve no purpose that humans can exploit and their disappearance doesn't affect them. I can say the same for quite a few people, so, therefore, I should be allowed to hunt them and remove them from the face of the earth. No loss, right?
I was just hearing on the radio today that while most extinctions are due mostly to habitat loss, that is not what killed the white rhino. It was actual killing, with guns, etc. These creatures were killed to make pseudo medicine and knife handles from their horns. Human beings purposefully, willfully killed them to extinction. I'm sure they would kill the last two females in captivity if they could make a profit.
Rhino horn is popular in the wealthy Asian market as a super duper magical medicine. That's what did it. Not politically correct but I said it and it's the truth. Poachers were paid. It makes me furious. They have his semen but the remaining two females are his daughter and granddaughter.
Another thing that was said on the radio (NPR) today is that the white rhino is a sub-species, not a completely separate species, and as such, they could use another sub-species of rhino as the mom so as to get some other genes into the gene pool, maybe doing that for a couple of generations, then eventually breed animals back to the daughter and/or grand daughter to get more white rhino genes. It would never be pure white rhino again, but may come close.
Rhino horn is popular in the wealthy Asian market as a super duper magical medicine. That's what did it. Not politically correct but I said it and it's the truth. Poachers were paid. It makes me furious. They have his semen but the remaining two females are his daughter and granddaughter.
I don't think you are being politically incorrect. What you say is true. In some cultures the fact that an animal is rare or endangered gives it more cache and the demand gets even greater. I wish it were different. It seems perverse to me, but that is my cultural outlook. We can have respect for a culture but still recognize that a particular aspect of the culture is damaging. Remember the Easter Islanders, who may have had a unique and amazing culture, but their beliefs and practices resulted in the deforestation of their island and extinction of their people.
Habitat loss and poaching have threatened rhino populations in Africa and Asia for decades. Their keratin horns are believed to work as a hangover cure and are sometimes included as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicines. However, many scientists say these cures are ineffective.
Natural breeding doesn't seem to be a viable option at this point, and it's practically impossible unless a male can be found in the wild. But that situation is unlikely, so scientists have turned to the lab for ideas on how to save this dying species. They've harvested sex cells from the living rhinos and have made steps toward in vitro fertilization with southern white rhino surrogates. But this effort could take more than a decade. (Related: read about how scientists get rare animals to mate.)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
