Harassing The Beasties

No Wonder They're Going Extinct! Yes, there does appear to be a strong correlation between the activities of Mankind and the rate at which other species hit the wall (become extinct, that is). Small wonder, when the scientists who search for "New Species" get so excited when they discover such that they Harass Them Mercilessly. Catch as many as you can. Put a collar or a transmitter or a camera on them. How on earth is a beastie supposed to survive with all this hardware hindering its every activity? Seeking food - tough enough without the added ballast. Evading capture - well, that's already been a failure. Reproducing - Hah! What self-respecting animal wants to star in a porn movie? In a stunning appraisal, the writer in this piece speculates that: "The tarsiers, which some scientists believed were extinct, may not have been overly thrilled to be found." Well, who would be?

Certainly not the Great Auk, as this historical tidbit shows: