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Farmer unknowingly captures animal extinct in region for over a century
(www.newsweek.com)
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this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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Biodiversity
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I ~~hate~~ strongly dislike that they are using the word 'extinct' for an animal that is not.
Local extinction (extirpation) is a legitimate concept that is heavily studied in ecology. Just because an animal is still alive somewhere it doesn't mean that its absence from a region it has historically lived is irrelevant.
The audience for Newsweek is lay people not ecologists. It's completely predictable that this usage of the word would create misunderstanding. Seems like misleading clickbait to me with a cover of plausible deniability.
Obviously, but that doesn't mean they don't interview ecologists or biologists. “Extirpation” is way less layman friendly than "locally extinct," and the article makes it extremely clear that this is an animal that hadn't been seen in a specific region for years. Skimming the headline and deciding it means "they thought it was completely extinct" is a problem with the reader, not the headline or the term "locally extinct."
The title doesn't say "locally extinct". Do you really not understand how click bait titles work and why they are shitty?
You know I guess you have a point, if they're writing for people who are too dim to realize "locally extinct" and "extinct in region" are the same concept.
Yeah I thought the same. How hard would it have been to add "thought to be" behind that.
And even then, it's apparently still going in other areas, just "extinct" in that area.
Or they could have just said "not (verifiably) seen in the state for over a century"
It's a bit weird because it's "in a region", which begs the question if I capture a creature from a different region and move it to a region where it was extinct, is it extinct anymore? (There being only one also means it will quickly become 0 again.)
Idk, just a weird thought.
Well when you think the animal is extinct for over 100 years it’s generally the word you use.
They didn't think that the animal was extinct for over 100 years though. There are threatened populations in QLD, NSW, tassie etc.; they just hadn't been seen in the state of SA in 100+ years.