Why would it matter to us that animals are going extinct ?

Question

Im doing a caste study for science and its on cloning endangered animals,

well im on the conclusion and im stuck on why it matters to humans that animals are going extinct ?

please help!!?

Answer 1

Planet earth does not belong to us human alone. We have to share the planet with every living thing. When an animal becomes extinct, it is gone for ever. We are the most intelligent creature on earth, and we can do something about it. It is our duty to do something about it.

Answer 2

First of all, a major reason why so many animals are going extinct is because of human activities such as poaching, polluting, deforestation, and destruction of habitats such as wetlands and estuaries. It is our responsibility as humans to try and coexist with nature and disrupt it as little as possible.

Secondly, a lot of our medicines come from nature-- plants that we are just discovering now give us clues to help come up with medications that will treat or eliminate many of the diseases that plague us today. To cut down rainforests not only hurts wildlife today, but it also hurts the human race in years to come.

In your case study, you should also mention the potential harms of cloning endangered animals- cloning them would mean the same genetic flaws would be present in the animals -- also, if allowed to breed with wild endangered animals, the population would be at an even greater risk because eventually all of the animals of that species would be homogenous for many genes. This could result in extinction even quicker if a new pathogen was to attack that species - essentially, they wold have decreased chances to have a member of their species that could be immune to that pathogen.  

good luck

Answer 3

ecological imbalance would be detrimental to the survival of life on earth. and having extinct species would mean that a certain disruption in the flow of the ecosystem will transpire

Answer 4

because humans are animals. Only difference is we think we're smarter then natural selection. The most fit don't reproduce its about attraction or a six pack and regrets. no wonder we can't get rid of all the disease in the world.

Answer 5

Like it or not, we are part of a larger ecosystem.  We fit in the food web along with all the other organisms.  A significant block in understanding how important other species and ecosystems are is coming to terms with the fact that we are not above other living things.  We're just endowed with different traits, like highly developed manual dexterity, language centers and high encephalization.

Read: we depend on other living things as well as the stability and health of the environment.  Despite incredible scientific advances, we can not completely destroy a species without significant ramifications.  We can't fix such a loss with technology.

You can always take the anthrocentric approach and say that those species may have something humans can use in medicine.  That's a common argument for preventing the destruction of rain forests - there might be some sort of chemical/protein in an organism out there that can help us cure cancer.

However, you must also think about the dribble-down effects of a species becoming extinct.  It messes up an ecosystem.  Say you lose a top predator, like a lion.  Then there are too many prey species, like antelope.  That means that more plants get eaten, leaving less foliage for other species.  Eventually, the antelope will die off because there's not enough food to support the large population.  Of course, this scenario barely touches on the ramifications outside this small community of three species.

Although it's a valid point, people rarely touch on the sanctity of a species and its own inherent right to exist.  Humans just can't seem to admit that beings other than themselves have merit in this world.

Answer 6

What are we going to serve at Burger King when we are out of animals?

Answer 7

It matters because without the normal chain of producers and carnivores and all that, the whole system would collapse.

Look into what is happening from the collapse of honeybees alone.  It could destroy our ability to produce food all by itself.

Answer 8

It matters because when we lose species we lose diversity and diversity is one of the keys to a healthy ecosystem.  Some of the plants that are on the verge of going extinct may hold cures for cancer or other diseases and losing animals from an ecosystem may have long term effects on the health of the ecosystem.