TIL About Conservation-induced extinction !

What's up friends?

Trumpyboy back with another useless yet interesting fact!

This time it's about conservation-induced extinction. In layman's terms it refers to a species going extinct due to conservation efforts to save some other species.

Now it may sound sad but it's not that bad as most recorded cases of species going extinct that way are parasites. This is because when the last individuals of a species are captured for conservation purposes they typically undergo anti-parasitic treatment and as a result any parasites that are too specific for that species they go extinct.

One such example is colpocephalum californici a type of louse parasitizing on the Californian condor. When the few remaining condors were deloused and treated with pesticides during a captive breeding program the species went bust.

Colpocephalum sp. source

Interestingly, this matter has sparked some debate in the scientific community. Don't know about you but I think the world can survive with a few parasites less :)

Anyways, this concludes today's post. Feel free to click any of the links above if you wish to further educate yourself.

Stay tuned for more useless facts!

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