Exterminated species, extinct by man – early birds

Everyone knows the story of the dodo, but who knows how the golden frog, the great auk, the Fernandez sandalwood, and the Tasmanian tiger died? Why is it important to know these stories? In his book Species Annihilation, Robert Jan Trog depicts twenty species that have become (almost) extinct due to humans.

By species extermination, Trügg means “when a species […] (Almost) extinct due to human actions, or its continued existence is seriously threatened by humans. The word is missing from Dikke van Dale, but according to the author, it should be included: “The extinction of animal and plant species is linguistically depicted as something negative. 'They are extinct.'

“They also say in English”“They are extinct”. “It's like it's just happening.” While most species are becoming extinct due to human actions, “a clear label might make it easier for us to recognize what's happening right now and that something is very wrong.”

A striking example of this is the Atitlán Grebe, a waterbird found only in Lago de Atitlán, a high-altitude lake in Guatemala. The airline Pan Am decided to organize fishing trips to the lake. Since only small fish species and freshwater crabs live there, large sea bass are stocked.

The rest is anyone's guess. Seabass eat the food of grebes and juvenile grebes. The Atitlan bird declined rapidly and became extinct in 1989 after several failed rescue attempts.

“Species Annihilated, (Almost) Extinct by Humans” is now in bookstores.