Jason Bittel - Animals Lost and Found: Stories of Extinction, Conservation and Survival

Illu stra ted by Jona th an Woodw ard Writt en by Jason Bitte l

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Illustrator Jonathan W o odward Author Jason Bitt el Consultant Laure Cugni re Proj ect Editor S ophie P ark es Senior Art Editor Claire P a tane Design Assistant Sif N rsko v Editor Lizzie Mu nsey US Editor Jane P e rlmutter US Senior Editor Shannon Beatty Senior Designer Hannah M oore Picture Re searcher Rituraj S ingh Publi shing Coordinator I ssy W alsh Senior Pr oduction Editor Dragana P uv acic Senior Pr oduction Controller John Casey Managing Ed itor P enn y S mith Deputy Art Director Mabel Chan Publi shing Director Sarah Lart er First America n Ed ition, 2022 Pub lished in the Unit ed St ates by DK P ub lishing 1745 Broadwa y, 20th Floor , New Y o rk, NY 10019 Copyright 2022 Do rling Kindersley Lim ited DK, a Division of P enguin R andom H ouse LL C 22 23 24 25 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 001321268Aug/2022 All rights reserv ed. Without limiting the rights under the c opyright r eserv ed abov e, no part of this publication may be re produce d, stor ed in or intr oduced into a r etriev al syst em, or tr ansmitt ed, in an y form , or by any means (electronic, mechanic al, photo copying, r ecordi ng, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the c opyright o wner . Pub lished in Gre at Britain b y Dorl ing Kindersley Limited A catal og recor d for this book is available fr om the Libr ary of Congr ess. ISBN 978-0-7440-3339-7 DK books are available at special disc ounts when purc hased in bulk for sales pr omotions, pr emiums, fund-r aising, or educ ational use. F or det ails, c ont act : DK P ublishing S pecial M ark ets, 1745 Broadwa y, 20th Floor , New Y o rk, NY 10019 SpecialSales@dk.c om Pri nted and bound in China For the curious www.dk.com This book was made with F or est Stewardship Co uncil certif ie d paper one small step in DK s commitment to a sustainable future. Fo r more informat ion go to www. dk.com/our-gr een-pledge

Intro duc ti on 8 M ass exti nc ti ons C au ses of ex tin c ti on Clas sific at ion Conserv at ion Ecosyst ems G olden to ad P int a Islan d to rto ise REDISCOVERED W oo lly flying sq ui rre l Coelac anth T r ee lo bs ter M an gar aha ra cich ild P ygmy ta rsi er B ermu da pet rel C haco an pecca ry Tak ah C re ste d gec ko L ead be a te rs possum EXTINCT S ab er-to oth ed ca t I rish elk G ian t g ro und slo th W oo lly mam mot h Malag asy dwarf hipp opot amu s Dodo S te llers sea c ow Gre at a uk Quag ga P as senger pigeon Thyla cine Cr e sc en t nail-t ail w alla b y

B ulmers fr uit ba t R ed-cr este d tr ee -r at ENDANGERED A sian eleph ant A fric an eleph ant P o lar bear J av an rhi no L ea th er b ack tur tle E ast er n gor illa W es ter n gor illa Q ueen Alex and ra s bir d wing A mur leopa rd Blue wh ale H umphea d wr ass e R ed pa nda G alpag os penguin K om odo d rag on Ghari al B ornea n or ang uta n S unda pan golin Phili p pine pa ngolin RECOVERING B ald ea gl e G ian t p an da E uro pean bison B urmese st ar tor toi se H ump ba ck whale I beria n lynx C alifor nia con dor G olden lion t ama rin P rzew als kis hor se B ro wn bear A utho r an d illus tra to r biogr aph y Glossar y Index Ack nowledg ment s

hen people in the past found a huge bone or pair of antlers in the ground, they took it as evidence that dragons and giants walked the Earth. W e k now now that these are fossilstraces of animals that lived long before us and ar e now extinct . Its important to know the history of the animals that have lived on Earth, so we can learn lessons and protect them in the future. Fire-breathing dragons and monstrous giants arent real. But you can find a terr ifying, 10 ft long Ko modo dragon with venom in its spit in Southeast Asia, and our oceans are home to the blue whale, which is bigger than every single dinosaur we know of. My point? We are unbelievably lucky to share this planet with tons of fascinating, bizarr e, and unique creatures. And the more we learn about them, the better chance we have of making sure they will still be around for generations to come. Jason Bitte l

he earth has seen many e xtinctions before. M ost people know that a giant asteroid probably kill ed off the dinosaurs . B ut did you know that this is just one of many apocal ypses to have tak en place on this planet? In fact , t he Earth has suff ered five mass e xtinctions ove r the last 500 million year s. A ll together , scientists believ e these eve nts wiped out 75 to 90 perc ent of all the species that have e ver exi sted. Wo rst of all, m any exp erts believ e humans are no w causing a sixth mass extinction e vent . PERMIAN-TRIASSIC LATE DEVONIAN ORDOVICIAN This ma ss e xtin c ti on has been linke d to clima te chang e, whic h w as possib ly due to volca ni c an d aster oi d eve nts ca us ing a drop in ca rb on dioxi de in the a t mosphe re . Ov er t he cours e of 20 million yea rs or so , a bo u t 75 per c en t of lif e on Ear th died ou t , much of i t wit hout leav ing a tr ac e. Known a s t he Gr ea t Dying, this e vent wa s c aus ed by erup ti ons fr om a compl ex of volca no es. Their er up ti ons caus ed a c hang e in clima te , caus ing oce an te mper atu re s to s ky ro ck et an d for ests to wit her a nd die. Only fo ur perc ent of oce an specie s surv ived, along wi th perc ent of lif e on la nd . The secon d-lar ge st m ass extin c ti on in Ear th s hist ory seem s to ha ve had some t hing t o d o wi t h a massi ve, p lan et -wide ice age , fo llowe d by a gr ea t thaw . The ev ent wipe d out 85 per c en t of lif e on t he plan et most of which ha d exist ed in the oce ans . Fos silize d fer n In sec t in ambe r Tr ilo bi te fossil 447 million year s ag o 383 million year s ag o 252 million year s ag o