With time, Lakhi’s age caught up with her, and she showed signs of slowing down, old injuries got inflamed and she seemed to prefer resting against the mud beds in her enclosure
With time, Lakhi’s age caught up with her, and she showed signs of slowing down, old injuries got inflamed and she seemed to prefer resting against the mud beds in her enclosure. Late Saturday evening on the 3rd of March, she seemed more weary than usual, and even as her knees buckled under her, Asha and Coco rushed to her side to support her. Asha appeared calm and strong, as if she knew in her own way that this was it – Coco panicked initially, rushing about and running circles around her fallen friend. The team rushed in, the crane was called in to lift her back to her feet and support her – the elephants moved aside and watched, Asha touching them gently as they huddled together. They stood back as the team tried to get her back to her feet, even the younger elephants seemed uncharacteristically calm. Maybe they knew, maybe they realised it was time to let go and had their chance to say their goodbyes, and wanted to let her pass in peace. Lakhi resisted being lifted, as if she too knew her time had come. She let out her final breath and slumped down against the mud bed, eyes shut looking like she was completely at peace. As the team moved away, heartbroken, Asha rumbled loudly from where she was standing, but none of the elephants moved – Coco let out a small wail, and from every enclosure elephants responded softly with rumbles, trumpets and huffs all the way from the bulls to the closerby females like Phoolkali like an orchestra of calm, reassuring solidarity for their fallen friend.
Username: All_the_Best Published on 2024-12-24 11:53:18 ID NUMBER: 127760
New Zealand's giant flightless bird
New Zealand’s largest birds probably became extinct within one hundred years of humans first arriving in New Zealand, around 1300 A.D.. However, there were unsubstantiated sightings of moa by whalers and sealers into the 18th and even 19th centuries. Moa were a family of eleven species of flightless birds that were only found within New Zealand. The largest species grew up to 3.7 m (12 ft) tall and weight up to 230 kg (510 lb) – no wonder they were hunted by Maori! They were the only wingless birds known to have existed – even their cousin the flightless kiwi still has little vestigial wings hidden under its feathers. Prior to their extinction, they were the dominant plant-eater in New Zealand’s forests and only had one predator, Haast’s Eagle; the largest eagle ever known to exist and also the victim of extinction following the demise of the moa to hunting by Maori.
Photo by Sciencemag.org
Kiwi were long regarded as the closest relative to the moa, but recent studies suggest that either the Australia emu and cassowary or tinamous birds from South America are likely the closest cousins. Female moa grew considerably larger than their mates and weighed almost three times as much, in some cases. Although most images of reconstructed moa skeletons or artists’ impressions of the birds show them standing upright, it is likely that they actually moved along with their head out in front, just like a kiwi does. Despite almost always being portrayed as giants, some species of Moa were actually significantly smaller, much shorter than the height of a person, and some possibly as small as chickens!
Of course, completely lacking wings the question has been asked “how did the moa get to the islands of New Zealand”. It’s thought most likely that moa were already roaming New Zealand prior to it breaking away from the super-continent of Gondwana about 80 million year ago.
Many moa bones, eggs (including over 30 whole eggs), feathers, dehydrated skin and nesting materials have been found from a number of caves and other locations around New Zealand, in particular from the dry Central Otago region.
A Haast’s eagle divebombing a pair of moas. A new study finds that it only took a few thousand people to kill off the nine species of moas found on New Zealand, an act which also led to the extinction of their only predator, the Haast’s eagle. Image by: John Megahan/Creative Commons 2.5.
Species from top to bottom: South Island Giant Moa (Dinornis Robustus), Eastern Moa (Emeus Crassus), & The Little Bush Moa (Anomalopteryx Didiformis).
All three along with 6 other Moa species were driven to extinction by hunting and habitat destruction about 600 years ago.
Art Credit: Gabriel Ugueto
Extinction is a natural process that has been occurring for as long as there’s been life on earth. 99% of all organisms that have ever existed have gone extinct.
However, ongoing animal extinction is no longer a natural occurrence. It’s now a significant problem. This is because the current rate of extinction is higher than ever, and it’s changing the world as we know it. We’re losing many species every year, and many more are on the verge of extinction. If we don’t do something, there will be irreversible damage to ecosystems.
So what causes extinction, and what can we do to slow it down? Let’s discuss.
Extinction is a natural process that has been occurring for as long as there’s been life on earth. 99% of all organisms that have ever existed have gone extinct.
However, ongoing animal extinction is no longer a natural occurrence. It’s now a significant problem. This is because the current rate of extinction is higher than ever, and it’s changing the world as we know it. We’re losing many species every year, and many more are on the verge of extinction. If we don’t do something, there will be irreversible damage to ecosystems.
So what causes extinction, and what can we do to slow it down? Let’s discuss.
Extinction is a natural process that has been occurring for as long as there’s been life on earth. 99% of all organisms that have ever existed have gone extinct.
However, ongoing animal extinction is no longer a natural occurrence. It’s now a significant problem. This is because the current rate of extinction is higher than ever, and it’s changing the world as we know it. We’re losing many species every year, and many more are on the verge of extinction. If we don’t do something, there will be irreversible damage to ecosystems.
So what causes extinction, and what can we do to slow it down? Let’s discuss.
There is a growing trend of people returning to gardening and growing their own produce. Besides being a great hobby, growing vegetables at your home has a number of advantages. If you don’t have space for a large vegetable garden a few big containers can provide the needed environment to grow some excellent fresh fruits or vegetables.
New Zealand's giant flightless bird
New Zealand’s largest birds probably became extinct within one hundred years of humans first arriving in New Zealand, around 1300 A.D.. However, there were unsubstantiated sightings of moa by whalers and sealers into the 18th and even 19th centuries. Moa were a family of eleven species of flightless birds that were only found within New Zealand. The largest species grew up to 3.7 m (12 ft) tall and weight up to 230 kg (510 lb) – no wonder they were hunted by Maori! They were the only wingless birds known to have existed – even their cousin the flightless kiwi still has little vestigial wings hidden under its feathers. Prior to their extinction, they were the dominant plant-eater in New Zealand’s forests and only had one predator, Haast’s Eagle; the largest eagle ever known to exist and also the victim of extinction following the demise of the moa to hunting by Maori.
Photo by Sciencemag.org
Kiwi were long regarded as the closest relative to the moa, but recent studies suggest that either the Australia emu and cassowary or tinamous birds from South America are likely the closest cousins. Female moa grew considerably larger than their mates and weighed almost three times as much, in some cases. Although most images of reconstructed moa skeletons or artists’ impressions of the birds show them standing upright, it is likely that they actually moved along with their head out in front, just like a kiwi does. Despite almost always being portrayed as giants, some species of Moa were actually significantly smaller, much shorter than the height of a person, and some possibly as small as chickens!
Of course, completely lacking wings the question has been asked “how did the moa get to the islands of New Zealand”. It’s thought most likely that moa were already roaming New Zealand prior to it breaking away from the super-continent of Gondwana about 80 million year ago.
Many moa bones, eggs (including over 30 whole eggs), feathers, dehydrated skin and nesting materials have been found from a number of caves and other locations around New Zealand, in particular from the dry Central Otago region.
A Haast’s eagle divebombing a pair of moas. A new study finds that it only took a few thousand people to kill off the nine species of moas found on New Zealand, an act which also led to the extinction of their only predator, the Haast’s eagle. Image by: John Megahan/Creative Commons 2.5.
Species from top to bottom: South Island Giant Moa (Dinornis Robustus), Eastern Moa (Emeus Crassus), & The Little Bush Moa (Anomalopteryx Didiformis).
All three along with 6 other Moa species were driven to extinction by hunting and habitat destruction about 600 years ago.
Art Credit: Gabriel Ugueto
Extinction is a natural process that has been occurring for as long as there’s been life on earth. 99% of all organisms that have ever existed have gone extinct.
However, ongoing animal extinction is no longer a natural occurrence. It’s now a significant problem. This is because the current rate of extinction is higher than ever, and it’s changing the world as we know it. We’re losing many species every year, and many more are on the verge of extinction. If we don’t do something, there will be irreversible damage to ecosystems.
So what causes extinction, and what can we do to slow it down? Let’s discuss.
Extinction is a natural process that has been occurring for as long as there’s been life on earth. 99% of all organisms that have ever existed have gone extinct.
However, ongoing animal extinction is no longer a natural occurrence. It’s now a significant problem. This is because the current rate of extinction is higher than ever, and it’s changing the world as we know it. We’re losing many species every year, and many more are on the verge of extinction. If we don’t do something, there will be irreversible damage to ecosystems.
So what causes extinction, and what can we do to slow it down? Let’s discuss.
Extinction is a natural process that has been occurring for as long as there’s been life on earth. 99% of all organisms that have ever existed have gone extinct.
However, ongoing animal extinction is no longer a natural occurrence. It’s now a significant problem. This is because the current rate of extinction is higher than ever, and it’s changing the world as we know it. We’re losing many species every year, and many more are on the verge of extinction. If we don’t do something, there will be irreversible damage to ecosystems.
So what causes extinction, and what can we do to slow it down? Let’s discuss.
There is a growing trend of people returning to gardening and growing their own produce. Besides being a great hobby, growing vegetables at your home has a number of advantages. If you don’t have space for a large vegetable garden a few big containers can provide the needed environment to grow some excellent fresh fruits or vegetables.
