Koala Population in Australia Has Increased to 20,000 After 20,000 Deaths

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Recently, wildfires in Australia have frequently topped the hot searches.According to statistics, Australia's national treasure 'koala' has at least 20,000 casualties from the wildfires, and has fallen into the state of 'functional extinction'.

Koala, also known as tree kangaroo, has always been beloved by people all over the world, but at the same time, this species has become an endangered animal.

Before this wildfire, official statistics showed that the number of koalas remaining was only 43,000, with 20,000 casualties in the fire, and this number may further increase.

We just talked about 'functional extinction,' which may not be clear to many people.'Functional extinction' refers to a situation in which a species' survival environment is completely destroyed, and the number of individuals is already at the level of endangered, so that the remaining survival environment cannot continue to support the species' reproduction and evolution.

From this definition, it can be seen that 'functional extinction' is essentially equivalent to 'species extinction.' If a species has no habitat left, it naturally cannot survive, and extinction will become a matter of time.

In addition to koalas, species such as the South China tiger and finless porpoise are also falling into functional extinction. For these species, many scientists even find it difficult to determine whether they have already gone extinct.

Taking the finless porpoise as an example, it generally lives in the Yangtze River and the middle reaches, in the early 1980s, the number of finless porpoises had plummeted to more than 400, and after a few years, in 1986, it had reached 300.

In 2002, scientists estimated that 'the remaining finless porpoises were less than 50,' and in 2006, it was basically impossible to see wild finless porpoises. Scientists suspected that it was extinct.

In 2007, the species was labeled 'functional extinction.' In the following years, some citizens said they had seen similar animals in the Yangtze River, but they could not be verified, and this species is now a mystery.

In modern society, 'environmental protection' and 'animal protection' are frequently mentioned, which is not alarmist.

The Wanderer Bird is a bird species that lives on Mauritius Island. In the 15th century, humans discovered this species on the island. Just two hundred years later, in 1681, the numerous Wanderer Birds disappeared due to human hunting.

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, 25 animals were extinct in 200 years, which is because humans' damage to the environment was not as serious as it is today.

However, from the 19th to the 20th centuries, this number reached 78. Today, the speed of species extinction cannot be measured in 'centuries,' but in 'minutes'.

The extinction speed of plants and animals is getting faster and faster, and no matter how many species there are, they cannot withstand disappearing at such a speed.

When all species are endangered, people at that time may also fall into 'functional extinction'.All living beings are on the same planet. When one species excessively encroaches on the survival environment of other species, it will inevitably cause disruption of the ecosystem. When this disruption cannot be recovered by the earth, all life will inevitably face the same fate.

Original author: Li Peng