'Extinct' till now, had been a word meant to be used only in relation to the prehistoric times.
We have grown up learning that the Dinosaurs were extinct long ago, that DODO was a bird that lived long ago and so on.
It didn't ,then, evoke any feelings similar to that I feel while I encounter these terms today. While reading those lines in the textbooks of high school classes the only feeling that played in the back quarters of my mind was that of curiosity as to what they would have been like.
Today,we all know that there are only 1411 tigers left in the world to be saved,thanks to MS Dhoni!.The figure is slightly exaggerated it seems.But what difference does it make.They are endangered, nonetheless.
Tiger, a slightly familiar name amongst the lot, I guess.
Ever paid your ears to all those other names in the list-The Giant Panda, Lion Tail macague,the Nilgiri tahr to name just a few from among the ever increasing list.
We have been aware of this for a long time,it seems.
But what happened in the meanwhile is the appearance of some new names in the list and disppearnce of some, not names but the creature itself, without even giving a slight hint.Even before their names could apear in these lists,they have vanished.
Tigers,leopards,civets, dolphins.Does the names ring a bell.Too common, too familiar, right?I am not naming the animals I know.These are some of those many unfortunates on the brink of extinction.It is they who evoke that disturbing feeling.
They are too familiar, too close to us to be endangered.
Perhaps we took them too much for granted.
It feels like a dear friend,a close relative,a long neighbour is going away, for the good. Never to be seen again, no emails, no calls.Literally, about to be vanished from face of the earth!
I can give you 2 more disturbing names.Parrots and sparrows.Even more disheartening,isn't it?They were our next door neighbours.
And did you ever realize the fact that Vultures are no longer around.Warning bells rang for quite some time.These scavengers,it seems, have feasted their way to extinction according to a latest report. A toxin in the foodchain has taken its toll on them.
Now how do we explain to the next generation what those creatures that circle on and on in a battle scene in the movies are.
The prominent question that remains is who is next.
All our natural resources,animals, plants will disappear right under our noses and we wouldn't have noticed it.We would have been too busy to realize that things we have grown up with are no longer around us.
For the next generation they would just be fossil remains or photographs or history.Perhaps they would just become part of bed time stories for the kids to come arousing their curiosity.
"Once upon a time, there used to be this small thing called parrot.It was green in colour....".And then how will we describe green?
We have grown up learning that the Dinosaurs were extinct long ago, that DODO was a bird that lived long ago and so on.
It didn't ,then, evoke any feelings similar to that I feel while I encounter these terms today. While reading those lines in the textbooks of high school classes the only feeling that played in the back quarters of my mind was that of curiosity as to what they would have been like.
Today,we all know that there are only 1411 tigers left in the world to be saved,thanks to MS Dhoni!.The figure is slightly exaggerated it seems.But what difference does it make.They are endangered, nonetheless.
Tiger, a slightly familiar name amongst the lot, I guess.
Ever paid your ears to all those other names in the list-The Giant Panda, Lion Tail macague,the Nilgiri tahr to name just a few from among the ever increasing list.
We have been aware of this for a long time,it seems.
But what happened in the meanwhile is the appearance of some new names in the list and disppearnce of some, not names but the creature itself, without even giving a slight hint.Even before their names could apear in these lists,they have vanished.
Tigers,leopards,civets, dolphins.Does the names ring a bell.Too common, too familiar, right?I am not naming the animals I know.These are some of those many unfortunates on the brink of extinction.It is they who evoke that disturbing feeling.
They are too familiar, too close to us to be endangered.
Perhaps we took them too much for granted.
It feels like a dear friend,a close relative,a long neighbour is going away, for the good. Never to be seen again, no emails, no calls.Literally, about to be vanished from face of the earth!
I can give you 2 more disturbing names.Parrots and sparrows.Even more disheartening,isn't it?They were our next door neighbours.
And did you ever realize the fact that Vultures are no longer around.Warning bells rang for quite some time.These scavengers,it seems, have feasted their way to extinction according to a latest report. A toxin in the foodchain has taken its toll on them.
Now how do we explain to the next generation what those creatures that circle on and on in a battle scene in the movies are.
The prominent question that remains is who is next.
All our natural resources,animals, plants will disappear right under our noses and we wouldn't have noticed it.We would have been too busy to realize that things we have grown up with are no longer around us.
For the next generation they would just be fossil remains or photographs or history.Perhaps they would just become part of bed time stories for the kids to come arousing their curiosity.
"Once upon a time, there used to be this small thing called parrot.It was green in colour....".And then how will we describe green?
