Sudan, the last male white rhinoceros (Bing images)
No doubt you've heard the stories of Sudan ~ the last white rhino (or the last male white rhino).
Before he died, veterinarians and preservationists? collected his sperm in the hopes they could bring back his species. Really.....they're going to spend thousands of dollars to bring back a species with the sperm of one single specimen. There's not enough diversity in a single specimen's DNA for this to be a successful idea.
This reminds me of the cockamamie plan to use the DNA of saber tooth tigers and clone one.
We have to face the facts: people are stupid. They believe that the powder made from a white rhino's horn will cure cancer. The poaching of rhino's went into over-drive after a rumor that a Vietnamese official was cured with the substance. These poachers weren't just killing rhino's. They were also stealing rhino heads from collectors and museums. One little rumor has finished off an entire species. Not that this is anything new to our own species, which is apparently willing to erase an entire species off the face of the earth based on a rumor.
The money spent on the likely fruitless endeavor of using the sperm of an extinct species as a way to bring it back would be better spent educating the people who believe the impossible. Maybe a new rumor should have been put out there ~ green jelly beans placed in the left ear on a new moon will cure cancer. Hmmmmmmm.
Love, 365
Yep I agree with you so much, off to buy green jelly beans right now...
ReplyDeleteWell for heavens sake, don't forget it's the left ear........
DeleteSad.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I dismiss these types of "cures" because I was raised with western medicine ideals....Chinese medicine certainly has it's place but I wonder about things like this. It reminds me of a fable, where one has to do something heroic in order to get the prize. 1,000 years ago, it would have been very tough to kill a rhinoceros.
DeleteI saw this on CBS Sunday Morning (favorite show!) It is so sad. What we do to animals is sickening. They skin dogs alive and eat them at a festival in China. How awful is that? They laugh when the dog is wailing. It makes me hate people and love the animals all the more.
ReplyDeleteThere are times when I agree that animals are more lovable than people are. I'm sorry to say that dogs have been on the menu in eastern countries for a millennia. If they're going to eat them, and least don't make them suffer. Of course, here in the U.S. we just dump them on the side of the highway when we don't want them anymore. People. Bah humbug
DeleteIt really sickens and angers me some of the things people do due to their cruelness and ignorance that's between their ears!
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