This Bird Has Spent Nearly 20 Years Waiting For Endangered Species Protection

[EmperorScorpious]

[quote][img]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/murrelet.jpg[/img]

That guy up there is a Kittlitz's murrelet, a small bird in the auk family native to the rocky southern coast of Alaska, from Anchorage out to the Aleutian Islands, and also along the coast on the Russian side of the Bering Sea. It's one of about 25,000 Kittlitz's murrelets in the world, we think. The species has had a very difficult time in the past few decades; it's dependent on glaciers, which are melting due to global warming, for one thing. It's estimated that the Exxon Valdez oil spill back in 1989 killed as many as 10 percent of the global population. Its population has been rapidly, disastrously declining.

The Endangered Species Act, signed into law in 1973 by President Nixon, is designed to protect animals just like Kittlitz's murrelet. The law has had some success; several species, including the bald eagle, grey wolf, and whooping crane, have all come back from the brink of extinction thanks to the Endangered Species Act. But the Kittlitz's murrelet isn't on that list, because it's not officially a protected species. Instead, it's been a candidate for consideration...since 1994.

[B]While the Kittlitz's murrelet has sat on the candidate list, waiting to be considered for federal protection, its population has decreased by an estimated 80 to 90 percent.[/B][/quote]

[url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-03/bird-has-been-under-consideration-endangered-species-protection-nearly-20-years[/url]

[Computrix]

Looks like a bird caught in an oil spill.

[Naaz]

I have no sense of humor.

[Missing User]

[QUOTE=Naaz;39871064][IMG]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/murrelet.jpg[/IMG]
2/10 cute but would not fap[/QUOTE]

You fap to... birds?

Jesus people are fucked up.

[Naaz]

oh god i got taken seriously

[muffle]

[QUOTE=Naaz;39871219]oh god i got taken seriously[/QUOTE]
i assumed you were because it was too unfunny to be a joke

[Naaz]

[QUOTE=mopman999;39871242]i assumed you were because it was too unfunny to be a joke[/QUOTE]Ugh. What's happened to my sense of humor lately? I can't snip either, it's already been quoted. I apologize.

[Eudoxia]

We need to start building massive facilities like the Norway seed preservation thing to protect these endangered species. I seriously doubt any other program, in this day and age, will help protect these animals in the wild.

[Crazy Ivan]

[QUOTE=Naaz;39871064][IMG]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/murrelet.jpg[/IMG]
2/10 cute but would not fap[/QUOTE]

Are you kidding?

Look at how round and supple those pinion feathers are. And that down has GOT to just be SOOOOoooOOooO000Ooooo absorbent.

9/10 enjoyable duck would mount, for my wall tee-hee ;)

[DeEz]

[QUOTE=mopman999;39871242]i assumed you were because it was too unfunny to be a joke[/QUOTE]

Oh snap

[Naaz]

[QUOTE=Eudoxia;39871276]We need to start building massive facilities like the Norway seed preservation thing to protect these endangered species. I seriously doubt any other program, in this day and age, will help protect these animals in the wild.[/QUOTE]I've always found the Galapagos tortoise success story to be inspiring.