More catastrophic news for wildlife
More than any other factor in my life, my fascination with wildlife drove me to my career path in environmental advocacy including my election to the state legislature.
I am increasingly humbled and in awe of the astounding diversity of life on Earth.
Each creature’s unique evolution into near perfection for survival is worthy of a lengthy book uncovering its secrets. We are yet to learn much about so many critters even as new species are discovered.
Today’s expostulation is related to my nagging angst over the extinguishment of biodiversity on Earth.
The urgency of preventing the 6th Great Extinction, the only one caused by humans, haunts me. The last mass extinction was 66 million years ago caused by a massive asteroid hitting the Earth killing dinosaurs and 75% of plants and other animal species.
Two recent news items added to the urgency: a Super Bowl Sunday story detailing the massive U.S. consumption of avocadoes for guacamole on game day; and a depressing new landmark United Nations scientific report documenting the radical decline of migratory species. Yes, the stories are connected.
The UN State of the World’s Migratory Species report documented that 44% of 1,189 migratory species covered are declining, with 22% threatened with extinction.
Migration is one of the miracles of nature and many mysteries remain about how birds, mammals, fish and insects can navigate so precisely in migration, and when, why and where they migrate.
Billions of animals are regularly on the move each year in search of a diverse range of habitats for feeding, breeding, and resting.
Some species do not migrate and are called residents. Others migrate short distances, such as African elephants traveling 150 miles searching for water.
Some undertake long solitary migrations such as endangered sea turtles, with the leatherback crossing 10,000 miles of ocean to feed, breed and nest. Albatrosses travel on ocean-spanning searches for food and could traverse three million miles in a lifetime.
Humpback whales live in all the oceans and swim 5,000 miles from tropical breeding grounds to colder, more productive feeding grounds and back again each year.
All humpback populations were greatly reduced, most by more than 95%, before the 1985 moratorium on commercial whaling.
Humpbacks have increased in much of their ranges but are still endangered in others.
Like other migratory whales, they face threats from fishing gear entanglement, vessel strikes, vessel harassment, and underwater noise.
There can be variations in migration within species. Some populations or individuals might be resident in parts of a species range, while others migrate long distances.
The robin is an example. Many species migrate singly or in family groups, while others migrate collectively in vast numbers.
The UN report documents the decline of many of the world’s migratory species.
Migratory animals facing extinction threats include elephants, cheetahs, giraffes, polar bears, walrus, seals, snow leopards, whales, bats, dolphins, sea turtles, penguins and many other avian species.
About 97% of UN-covered migratory fish are threatened with extinction including all species of sturgeon, two in Chesapeake Bay. Even our beloved Baltimore oriole population declined by 36% between 1966 and 2019.
They migrate as many as 5,000 miles round trip annually, breeding as far north as Canada and wintering in Colombia.
Human activities have disrupted this ancient rite of migration and endangered hundreds of species.
The leading causes include: habitat loss and degradation from agricultural expansion and intensification; overexploitation by hunting, fishing and wanton killing; development, mining, oil, gas, and aquaculture activities polluting and destroying habitat; timbering; global warming and severe weather events; invasive species including cats; pollution from pesticides, plastics, heavy metals, and agricultural nutrients; and mortality from building and communication tower strikes with artificial lighting.
These impacts are expected to increase considerably over the coming decades with human population growth unless we act decisively.
Now the avocado connection.
About 85% of the avocados shipped to the U.S. from Mexico for Super Bowl guacamole consumption are from the state of Michoacán. That’s 226 million pounds or 736 million avocados.
Global warming has caused a drier, hotter climate in Michoacán resulting in fewer avocados as lakes dry up sparking water conflicts and stream diversions. Some farmers are illegally cutting down forests to grow more avocados and other crops, and for timber. This exacerbates water shortages and diminishes habitat.
This deforestation of thousands of forested acres, legally and illegally, is a major threat to migratory western monarch butterflies that depend on the forests of Michoacán to overwinter.
This butterfly is world renowned for its spectacular annual journey of up to 2,500 miles across the western U.S. and into Canada.
Deforestation is linked to the drop in the wintering population from 10 million butterflies in the 1980s to just 330,000 monarch butterflies recorded in 2023.
The population is calculated by the number of acres they cover in superdense concentrations in tree branches in Michoacán’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
This is the motherlode for wintering monarchs. Their population cluster fell to 5.5 acres in 2023 after once covering more than 45 acres.
This has led to an endangered listing by the IUCN for one of the world’s oldest and most resilient species. Exacerbating this habitat desecration are pesticides and herbicides used in intensive agriculture across the butterfly’s range killing both butterflies and milkweed, the host plant on which the larvae of the monarch butterfly feed.
Climate change is a fast-growing threat as drought limits the growth of milkweed and increases the frequency of catastrophic wildfires, temperature extremes trigger earlier migrations before milkweed is available, and severe weather kills millions of butterflies.
Concern remains high as to whether enough butterflies survive to maintain the population and prevent extinction — how tragically sad.
To escape this ecological depression, my wife and I are booked with three friends to witness the world’s greatest mammalian migration in Tanzania and Kenya.
The Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is a prime habitat for migratory species hosting more than two million wildebeests and 250,000 zebras and gazelles migrating in a circular route over 1,800 miles each year.
They support populations of apex migratory predators including cheetahs, lions and African wild dogs.
We are very excited about our African safari and anxiously awaiting to observe this awesome wildlife assemblage despite its increasing diminishment and threats from the expansion of agriculture, settlements, roads and fences. On this safari last year, 48 mammal species and 448 avian species were spotted.
Let us all commit to do what we can so future generations can witness such wildlife spectacles, and our migratory species here in the U.S. and around the world.