Are Endangered Species Worth Saving?

Species are going extinct at crazy high rates. Does it matter?

Species are going extinct at crazy high rates. Does it matter? Find out in this video.

ABOVE THE NOISE is a show that cuts through the hype and investigates the research behind controversial and trending topics in the news. Hosted by Myles Bess.

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What does it mean when a species goes extinct?
A species goes extinct when there are no longer any more of that species left on earth. That species is gone forever aka extinct.

What is the 6th mass extinction?
Throughout earth’s history there have been five major mass extinction events-- where a large percentage of species died out. Scientists estimate that we are in the middle of the 6th mass extinction event right now, where species are dying out at 1,000 to 10,000 times baseline extinction rates.

Why should we care if a species goes extinct?
Moral and ethical arguments to try to prevent species extinction include reasons like all life has a right to be here, or that we owe it to our grandchildren to protect species so they can see them in the wild. Species also impact the ecosystems they are a part of; plants and animals depend on each other in an ecosystem for things like food and shelter, so if one species dies out, then that could affect other species in an ecosystem. For example sea otters live in kelp forests and eat sea urchins, and when they were hunted almost to extinction the sea urchin population increased and ate all the kelp-- destroying the kelp forest habitat.

What are ecosystem services?
Ecosystem services are the collective benefits we get from ecosystems. Ecosystems provide us with a lot of great things like natural resources and water, and are home to living things we depend on-- like insects that pollinate our crops and decomposers that get rid of our waste. Ecosystems are healthiest when they are the most biodiverse.

SOURCES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

The Biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection (Science)

List of Recently Extinct Species:

The Extinction Crisis (Center for Biological Diversity):

What is the point of saving endangered species? (BBC)

Sea Turtles Might Be Threatened, But So Are Their Hunters (National Geographic)

Threats and Knowledge Gaps of for ecosystem services provided by kelp forests: a northeast Atlantic perspective (Ecology and Evolution)

How Sea Otters Help Save the Planet:

Cattle Ranching in the Amazon (Yale School of Forestry)

FOR EDUCATORS

About KQED
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[inayah]

Who else is here 2 years later for online classes

[mrseaweed]

It's a shame this channel doesn't have more views & subscribers. Really interesting content, likable host, very good graphics/animation... Hopefully the recognition they deserve will come soon

[gromczar]

You're spreading the good word to people who wouldn't normally seek this out, thank you so much

[nadBanga]

2:50 that creature isn’t ugly it looks awsome

[JuxtaposedStars]

Extinction is a completely normal and fundamental part of evolution. This is a fact that is rarely mentioned in connection with this debate. Almost every species that evolved has gone extinct, all of the species alive today are in the minority. The idea that we should save EVERY species is counterproductive at best. Do we have an ethical/moral obligation to help species under direct threat from our current and past actions? I'd say yes, if we destroy habitat or disturb natural behaviors, we should do our best to restore what has been lost. That being said, no one is going to volunteer to have their house/town/city/nation removed to restore natural habitat. Some species have already reached crucial points where they no longer have access to the population numbers, food sources, habitats or other physical requirements to survive as wild, self sustaining populations. Others species will not be able to survive the habitat loss and biome changes in the near future if climate change continues or accelerates, no matter how many resources we put into them.
In any time(geologic time) of great global change, there has been and will always be species that adapt and flourish to the changing conditions while others go extinct. We can see it in our own cities with pigeons, peregrine falcons, many different mammal and insect species, and even some larger predators like coyotes and leopards. Some have successful adapted to human engineered environments and thrive in numbers that meet or exceed their wild population densities.
We should be directing our efforts towards linchpin species. Those that would have the greatest effect on their local biome if they were lost. Species most likely to succeed from reasonable conservation efforts should also be prioritized. If you have to endlessly sink more resources into a species with no clear sign of a stabilizing/increasing population without direct human intervention, you've just created an outdoor zoo.

[nancymcgivney]

Love these videos. I'm a teacher and love to show these to my students. Thanks. Also your acting skills are so improving.

[oafkad]

Used to play Jenga as a kid in front of a swamp cooler. It was a terrifying experience when you were trying to win. Any small change resulted in the sway from the breeze growing more pronounced.

Eventually it was a matter of timing. Picking and choosing what to pull and pulling at such time that you wouldn't aid in the tower falling over.

Not necessarily saying it was an allegory for where we stand in the world now. Mostly just recounting it because I was reminded. That said, I do think folks need to be a bit more cautious about what they do to the world around them. Even seemingly innocuous changes by a single person can lead down dramatic and destructive paths if replicated by thousands or millions.

[madoxtinocomunoz]

A: when a species rises it means that it disappears from the world and will never be seen again B: because if in an important species for the balance of the ecosystem, the whole ecosystem or the function they perform could be ruined

[katsukibakugo]

I'm a student and I LOVE these videos! I love animals and will do ANYTHING to help them out endangered or not! :)

[lucasxgaspar]

This video helped me so much for my speech!! Thank you so much!,

[venustrapsflies]

The only reason why I know what a kelp forest is, is because of Octonauts

[Potato-tbwy]

man these videos deserve more attention!

[onamimeee]

that was the coolest video I had ever seen...!!

[dreamdrgn]

i think some are worth preserving out of compassion, the things humans have which animals wouldnt,
Ultimately the top of the foodchain will stay there until something knocks it out of balance, but this chain is something humans are starting to separate themselves more and more. The future of humanity into an intergalactic species depends on how much you can exploit planet earth not for the advancements of rich companies, but for humans. Technology can advance to a point where animals could be less important to humans, or more realistically, the ecosystem is essentially controlled by us.
This video gave a perfect example of it, sea otter hunting was outlawed not because we "cared" about the species, but because its important to us as well.

[lukedashoe]

Really Good video love watching these videos more and more as the channel matures. Keep up the great work!!!

[CaioRodrigues]

4:24 Oh and also they produce crazy amounts of oxygen for you to breathe while watching netflix

[NaturalScienceConservatory]

Many fascinating and beautiful species to help save. Thanks for this video.

[rickberman]

we LOVED this video! thank you for making learning fun for us today.

[hyperbolik]

I always wondered why we try so hard to protect species, I always heard reasons like "Our children won't get to see them in the future", but never any really good reasoning. This video was very eye-opening, thank you. (I'm just gonna subscribe now and hit that bell button)

[francoisrd]

Instead of asking “how much are you willing to sacrifice to save a species?” ask “what are you willing to lose forever once the species is gone?”

Framing is everything.