Mouseworld

I have to tip my hat to CNN.com for this post. Some time ago, I signed up to receive environmental alerts from them, and I've been pleasantly surprised by the frequency and breadth of their environmental coverage (although often disappointed by the depth). While on the road a fair bit over the past month or two, several of their news stories got put aside in my inbox. Tonight, in between pitches during the Sox game, I started catching up on those articles, and noticed a troubling (but hardly new or surprising) theme: the repeated declines, threats and conflicts with large wild animals.

First there was a report on the dire status of Borneo's pygmy elephant (which, despite its name, certainly qualifies as a large animal standing 8 feet high) due primarily to habitat destruction. Several weeks later, there was a report on a herd of around 100 Asian elephants swimming across India's Brahmaputra River to the island of Majuli, where they damaged houses and destroyed sugar cane fields. The elephants likely headed for Majuli due to the squeeze imposed by habitat loss on the mainland. Less than two weeks later, in the same region of India, six Asian elephants were electrocuted after drinking rice beer fermenting in large tubs on farmers' plantations. These stories made me think of my post way back in May on other human-elephant interactions. If we can find a way to share the landscape with Earth's largest land animal, that would be a potent symbol of our potential to co-exist with many other species. Sadly, I find myself thinking I had better plan a trip to see an elephant in the wild before they are too rare, or worse.

Next there was news of the continued decline of loggerhead turtles, ocean-going reptiles that can weigh up to 300 lbs (the CNN link appears to be dead, but the NY Times article is still up). The federal report attributes the trend to expanded commercial fishing operations, and destruction and development of nesting beaches is also a common factor in the decline of sea turtles. As with the elephants in Indian and Borneo, we are putting the squeeze on our sea turtles.

We are doing the same thing to one of our closest living relatives. In eastern Congo, rebels have not only seized the habitat that forms one of the last refuges for mountain gorillas, but they and the army inadvertently kill many of the gorillas caught in the crossfire of their conflict, including 10 this year. With only 700 mountain gorillas left in the world, any killings and loss of habitat are simply too much.

The simple reality is that all living things need space to live, and big animals need more space. As we continually claim more land, we will continue to lose more elephants, sea turtles, gorillas, and other large, magnificent beasts. We might be moving toward a world where the only species surrounding us are those small critters that can get by on limited space and can fit in the few cracks and crevices we give them. Of course, even this vision of "Mouseworld" is not a certainty, since small species are also susceptible to extinction due to habitat loss and other threats such as pollution. Perhaps we're lining up for a world that we share with naught but microscopic bugs, germs, bacteria and viruses. We might want to be careful about moving in that direction, for some of those organisms have proven to be surprisingly adaptable and nasty. However, which species will be our neighbors might not be an issue if we continue the trend of squeezing ourselves out of living space as well...