The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database cubit |
| Welcome to the Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database (REPAD) The world is currently experiencing an extinction crisis largely due to the actions of humans. Since our exodus out of Africa some 80-100,000 years ago, we have colonized and conquered just about every inhabitable piece of land on the planet, as well as many uninhabitable places. We have plundered and pillaged nature, driving countless species extinct at a rate so great that scientists fear that we have induced a sixth mass extinction. We have exerted so much pressure on nature that the consequences of our actions will probably not be known for another few decades or more. Given humanity's good conservation record over the last several decades, with many successful captive breeding programs established, people have become complacent and believe that the extinction of species is no longer a threat. And even if we do drive more species extinct, it is widely believed that we can simply bring them back to life through cloning. This is a terribly uninformed view to have since the complications of cloning are many and varied. It is not known for certain that we will be able to clone extinct species. Having enough genetic material is also a problem given that many recently extinct species are only known from one or a few badly degraded museum specimens. More than 4,000 of the world's species are "missing", with no known, locatable population or even individuals, and they are therefore possibly extinct. This database is dedicated to attempting to document all such missing species which are believed to have survived until less than 100,000 years ago. Due to its very nature, this database will always remain incomplete. The status of many of the world's species is simply unknown, either because of their cryptic nature or low population densities. There is no simple way of telling whether a species is extinct or not. The database currently has 3199 entries, and can be accessed here. Breaking News: 17/4/2012 The Dinagat Bushy-tailed Cloud Rat has been rediscovered. It was last seen in 1975. 12/4/2012 The rediscovery of the Desert Sand-skipper (a species of butterfly) has been officially reported in the literature. The species was rediscovered in 2007 after last being sighted in 1972. 29/3/2012 Bururi Long-fingered frog has been rediscovered. It was last seen in 1949. 20/01/2012 Miller's Grizzled Langur has been rediscovered!  Above: Watercolour painting of the recently extinct Bali Tiger, formerly endemic to the Indonesian island of Bali. Image courtesy of Eric Bajart. |
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Breaking News Archive By Branden Holmes on April 1, 2012 This article will serve as the archive of previous breaking news stories posted on the homepage of the database. The reader will be able to see exactly which species are the newest to be rediscovered, or declared officially (or unofficially) extinct. |
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The Sixth Largest Mass Extinction, Ever By Branden Holmes on February 25, 2012 In the 3.8 billion years that life has existed on Earth, it has only suffered five greater mass extinctions than the one which is currently under way. In the last 100,000 years more than 2000 species have become extinct; and they are just the species which were scientifically described before they went extinct. Many, many more go extinct either before they are properly described, or even before they are known. The real extinction rate has been calculated by E.O. Wilson (The Diversity of Life, 1992) as up to 30,000 species per year, or, 3.4 extinctions every hour (on average). |
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List of papers wanted By Branden Holmes on January 29, 2012 Unfortunately, as the predominant means of research for this database is the literature available free on the internet, and as most literature is not available free on the internet, this database will be quite constrained unless I can get access to many papers which are not readily available. Hence, the reason for this appeal. |
