Post #14793

The largest extermination of animals by humans: This must be remembered so that nothing like this will ever happen again Human civilization is a formidable machine, endlessly grinding, processing, producing new things. Its mechanisms wipe out entire species of animals without a trace, sometimes out of stupidity, sometimes out of greed, and sometimes out of carelessness. A striking example of this is the story of the passenger pigeon. There were no signs of trouble: the bird lived in the company of 3-5 billion (!!!) brothers and traveled throughout North America. But their problem was that the pigeons consisted of tasty and tender meat (photo 1). The indigenous inhabitants did not cause problems for the birds, but the pale-faced people who arrived in large numbers declared the birds to be pests, trophies, and simply a cheap snack for any occasion. Sociable birds, which prefer huge flocks of millions of comrades, have experienced all the delights of small shot, traps, nets, and poisons. The birds suddenly ended: back in the 1870s, flocks numbered millions of individuals, and 20 years later the species ceased to be found in the wild. All that remains of the pigeons are numerous records of naturalists and one and a half thousand stuffed animals. Even this was not preserved from the Steller cow (photo 2). The five-ton relatives of manatees and dugongs were sedentary, slow and almost did not react to what was happening around them. They had no natural enemies; their dimensions protected the animals from small coastal predators. Steller's cows lived off the coast of Kamchatka and the nearby islands. The large size only provoked people, and 20 years after the discovery in 1741 there was no one left to save. The number of Steller's cows never exceeded 2,000 individuals, and wasteful and sometimes senseless hunting quickly destroyed the small animals. The bison suffered no less, but at least they survived. A massive hunt for giants began after the machines of the Industrial Revolution began to spin in Europe. After all, each of them requires a belt made of strong, high-quality leather, so providers were quickly found. In addition, bison proved to be an excellent political tool. In an attempt to survive the Indians from their native lands, the Americans began to destroy hundreds of thousands of animals, only 1 carcass out of 3 was used, the rest were thrown to be devoured by scavengers. When railroads intertwined the United States, respectable train passengers came up with the idea of ​​shooting at animals from train windows. By the beginning of the 20th century, only a thousand survived from a population of 40 million animals. Fortunately, the worst is over and now nothing threatens the bison. Photo 3 is a legendary photograph of a pyramid of bison skulls. The sparrows are also safe, although they suffered from the too hasty actions of those in power. In the 60s, the Chinese Communist Party decided to radically improve life in the