The Loneliest Animals

March 18, 2013 PBS Wisconsin Leave a Comment

Watch Nature “The Loneliest Animals” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 on Wisconsin Public Television.

It’s sad to think that we’ve done so much damage to the planet and grown to such a large population that we’re pushing so many different species towards extinction. What’s worse is there’s no way to really know how much damage we’re doing. Sure there are a lot of protected species and some are actively being helped, but what about all the ones we’re not even aware of? Or the species that have already been wiped out without us even knowing it?

I’ve always found the concept of losing something we need before we even know it’s there to be quite interesting. I’m not sure exactly when I first heard the idea, but it was something along the lines of there possibly being a plant in the rainforest that could help cure cancer. Of course then there’s the struggle of finding such a plant before we inevitably destroy the rainforest and miss our chance. Now obviously it’s a little far-fetched to assume there’s a magical flower somewhere out there that will solve all of our problems, but you can’t deny that the possibility exists. Because the truth is, we simply don’t know everything yet. We’re still discovering new plants and animals every day and it sure would be a shame to lose something great that we didn’t even know we had.

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