In colonial india, the british put a bounty on cobras. Indian villagers who would have usually just killed the cobras and went on with their day now tried to catch them alive so they could then farm them for multiple bounties. This ballooned the snake populations to ridiculous levels, and then the british found out about the scheme. They then cancelled the bounty program, and the snake rearers released their animals on places they thought were far from people.
Net result: More snakes than ever before.
NataliePortland@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
Sister you might want to sit down for this surprising info: Bigfoot isn’t real. The thylacine is. And extinct animals are rediscovered regularly. Like the Galapagos tortoise that was officially extinct for 113 years and the Voeltzkows Chameleon was extinct for 107. The University of Queensland considers it “highly probable” that the thylacine was still alive at least until the 90s based on video and photograph evidence, which again- Bigfoot isn’t real. The thylacine is. So it’s apples and oranges to try and make that comparison between them. Even the ivory billed woodpecker has just last year been likely photographed again. Like am I crazy here? Thylacine isn’t a cryptid. It just hasn’t been seen in a long time
Depress_Mode@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Nah, son. Thylacines have, in a way, become cryptids since their extinction, complete with cheesy travel shows where some bogan tells you all about how they totally saw one time and they’re 100% sure it was a thylacine they barely saw from a distance running away through the tall grass after sunset. I’ve seen similar shows about Bigfoot, Nessie, Mothman, and others. They don’t exist anymore, making your chances of seeing one alive no more likely than seeing Bigfoot, which is the point I was making. Animals thought to be extinct being officially rediscovered is a pretty rare occurrence; I assure you it doesn’t happen “regularly”. It’s a big deal when it happens because it’s quite rare. Yes, I’m familiar with the stories of all the other extinct species you mentioned as well. The ivory-billed woodpecker is still considered by most ornithologists to be extinct, and the last widely accepted sighting of any individual was in 1987, despite some supposed (but not universally accepted or entirely conclusive) sightings every once in a while. In 2020, a guy working for Fish and Wildlife claimed to have ID’d one in video footage, but it must not have been very compelling because the very next year Fish and Wildlife proposed declaring it officially extinct. People claim to have sighted the ivory-billed woodpecker not infrequently, much like the thylacine. What is infrequent is any compelling evidence whatsoever, however.
NataliePortland@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
Well I have hope. It might be unlikely but that doesn’t make it impossible. And if it ever happens that one is officially captured or whatever I want you to remember me.