In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
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In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
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Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#2> by 1908 the shrew was thought extinct... Brief rediscoveries in 1958 and 1984 brought fleeting hope
So 2025 might be the 4th time the shrew has been declared extinct.
Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#3> by 1908 the shrew was thought extinct... Brief rediscoveries in 1958 and 1984 brought fleeting hope So 2025 might be the 4th time the shrew has been declared extinct.
No?
Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#4It's hard to imagine an animal like a shrew weighs only 6 grams.
Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#5how could they say with any certainty it is extinct? It is tiny.
Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#6how could they say with any certainty it is extinct? It is tiny.
I'm a scientist, and I work in a setting where there are a lot of non-scientists including engineers, managers, etc.
A word like "extinct" sounds like an absolute, and a rigorous statement would include a detailed disclaimer about the limitations of talking in absolute terms, such as "within the limits of our knowledge, and we could be wrong, yadda yadda."
When talking amongst scientists, those disclaimers are unnecessary because scientific thinking is taken for granted. Thus we talk in abbreviated terms, for instance where "extinct" implies "extinct, with all of the usual disclaimers."
But I think scientists have to remember that this is a habit, and most normal people don't get it. And then our words get filtered through the press. I think an article like this could include a brief working definition of "declared extinct" which would help reinforce the idea that what we sacrifice as the price of scientific knowledge, is absolute knowledge.
Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#7how could they say with any certainty it is extinct? It is tiny.
with a population this low it would be functionally extinct anyway, not enough genetic diversity
Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#8It's hard to imagine an animal like a shrew weighs only 6 grams.
Try the etruscan shrew, they weigh about two grams.
Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#9[dead]
Re: In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
#10how could they say with any certainty it is extinct? It is tiny.
I'm a scientist, and I work in a setting where there are a lot of non-scientists including engineers, managers, etc. A word like "extinct" sounds like an absolute, and a rigorous statement would include a detailed disclaimer about the limitations of talking in absolute terms, such as "within the limits of our knowledge, and we could be wrong, yadda yadda." When talking amongst scientists, those disclaimers are unnece…
I think I knew this deep down, but I am curious if there's "extinct (with the usual disclaimers)" and "extinct (it ain't comin back)". i.e. the Christmas Island Shrew vs. the Dodo