The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times(25)
“Don told me that when he gently added the last two freshly hatched chicks into Blue’s nest, she looked up at him as if to say, ‘Whatever next?’ but he told her, ‘It’s okay, darling, we’ll help you with the feeding.’ They gathered insects, grubs, and worms to help them feed their burgeoning family.
“Don and his team repeated the whole thing for the next few years, and most of the chicks fledged, mated, and produced chicks of their own. There are today about two hundred and fifty black robins.
“Just think—Don, Blue, and Yellow saved a whole species,” said Jane. “Blue lived four years longer than the usual age. When she died at thirteen years old, she was famous and affectionately known as Old Blue. A statue was erected to her memory.”
Jane clearly loved animal rescue stories and seemingly had countless others to share. She told me about so many more species that have been saved from extinction by human ingenuity and determination—mostly through captive breeding. The black-footed ferret of the great North American prairies was once thought to be gone forever until a farmer’s dog killed one, and a search revealed a small population that had survived and which enabled scientists to start a successful captive breeding program. The whooping crane, the peregrine falcon, the Iberian lynx, and the California condor were all down to only a few individuals in the wild when successful efforts were made to save them. Species that were completely extinct in the wild but kept alive through captive breeding programs and that have now been reintroduced to their homeland include the milu deer in China and the Arabian oryx in Arabia. And there are so many more fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and plants that have been saved from extinction by the hard work and dedication of people who cared.
A female scimitar-horned oryx, after being reintroduced to her original wild habitat in Chad, gave birth to the first calf of this ambitious project. I got tears in my eyes when I was sent this photo. (JUSTIN CHUVEN/ENVIRONMENT-AGENCY ABU DHABI)
“I just got an email today with some wonderful news about the beautiful scimitar-horned oryx,” Jane told me. “They were once found throughout desert regions of North Africa and Arabia but were hunted to extinction in the wild, and the species was only saved by captive breeding programs.
“I’ve been closely following the story of these stunning animals. The first twenty-five had been released into a huge area of their original habitat in Chad in 2016. Small groups have been released every year since, and now there are two hundred and sixty-five adults and adolescents and seventy-two calves, all roaming free and seemingly well adapted.
“This information came to me from Justin Chuven of the Environment Agency—Abu Dhabi. One question I asked him was whether it was really true that these oryx could survive for six months without drinking. He told me they often went without water for six to seven months and sometimes as long as nine months in a year!”
“That’s an incredibly long time to go without water,” I said. “How do they do it?”
“Justin told me the oryx are dependent on various water-rich plants, one of which is the very succulent but horrible-tasting bitter melon. He said he found it really entertaining to watch the oryx in a field of these fruits. They take one bite out of each melon, shake their heads in disgust, then move on to the next one and take a single bite from that—presumably hoping it will be less bitter! But it never is!”
I was inspired by these stories of heroic conservation, but I knew everyone did not believe that these rescue programs were worth the effort and the expense. “What,” I asked, “do you say to people who think that these campaigns to protect endangered species are a waste of money? After all, throughout the history of life on Earth, ninety-nine point nine percent of all species have gone extinct, so people may wonder why spend the money to start saving species now?”
The Tapestry of Life
“Well, as you pointed out earlier, Doug, the rate of extinction today, due to human actions, is many, many times faster than ever before,” Jane said, her face growing somber. “What we are trying to do is repair the damage we have created.
“And it’s not just about benefiting animals. I try to make people understand how much we humans depend on the natural world for food, air, water, clothing—everything. But ecosystems must be healthy to provide for our needs. When I was in Gombe I learned, from my hours in the rain forest, how every species has a role to play, how everything is interconnected. Each time a species goes extinct it is as though a hole is torn in that wonderful tapestry of life. And as more holes appear, the ecosystem is weakened. In more and more places, the tapestry is so tattered that it is close to ecosystem collapse. And this is when it becomes important to try to put things right.”
“Does this really work in the long term?” I asked, as we moved to be closer to the fire. I handed Jane the blanket and this time she drew it around her shoulders like a shawl. “Can you give me an example of the difference that these efforts can make?”
“I think the very best example is the restoration of the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park in the United States.”
Jane then explained how the gray wolf was wiped out a hundred years ago throughout most of North America. In Yellowstone, with the wolves gone, the elk overgrazed the park and the ecosystem suffered. Mice and rabbits could not hide, as the underbrush was gone, and their numbers plummeted. Bees had fewer flowers to pollinate. Even grizzly bears did not have enough berries to eat to prepare for their hibernation. The wolves had kept the elk away from the riverbank where they were exposed and vulnerable to attack. Without the wolves, the elk spent more time by the river, and the hooves of the large herds eroded the riverbank and caused the rivers to get muddy. Fish stocks declined in the cloudy water, and beavers could not build dams because overgrazing destroyed so many young trees.