The Pyrenean ibex became extinct on January 6, 2000 when the last of its kind, a lone female that was nicknamed Celia, was found crushed by a fallen tree in Ordesa National Park in the Spanish Pyrenees where naturalists had been monitoring the dwindling population for several decades. The Spanish government gave permission to a private biotechnology company to use tissue samples harvested from Celia’s ear to clone her DNA in the first ever attempt to de-extinct a species. A goat was used as a surrogate, and on July 30, 2003 a baby clone named Baby Bucardo was born. She was pronounced dead less than 10 minutes later after struggling to take her first breath (An autopsy later revealed a mutation in her lung). This was the most successful experiment so far of its type.
Staghorn coral received its name for its antler-like branches which can extend upwards of six feet high. Most people do not think of coral as being part of the Animal Kingdom. Instead they are seen as the underwater forest amongst which sea life can thrive. This is true of their role in the sea, but unlike plants they cannot create food on their own. In order to thrive, corals form symbiotic relationships with parasitic algae that take refuge within their outer cellular tissues. This is what gives coral their brilliant colors. The corals feed the algae the carbon-dioxide they need for photosynthesis, and in exchange the algae provide the corals with a source of food. Most coral are very sensitive to even the slightest variation in water temperature. When the seas get warmer Staghorns in particular are some of the first corals to succumb to “bleaching”, a process by which the coral will shed the algae that lives within their tissues leaving them bone white and without a dependable source of food. If the algae do not return, the corals eventually die off. Since 1980, even though they are one of the fastest growing corals, Staghorn populations have been in steady decline.
The Golden Toad was so named for the brilliant 24-carat-toned skin of the males. (The females are a splotchy black and red, which is scientifically known as sexual dimorphism, where the physical appearances of the genders are drastically different.) Their home was in the tropical zone of Costa Rica, but one hasn’t been seen since 1989. They are believed extinct, caused by a combination of drought and a lethal fungus that attacks frogs, toads and salamanders endemic to South America. Another theory is that their reproduction is part of their downfall, as the lengthy process in the harsh and constant change of the jungle often led to the washing away of their eggs and tadpoles.
The Saola, or Asian Unicorn, is a fascinating creature because we know so little about it. It was only discovered in 1992 but is already critically endangered. Native to Southeast Asia, they are closely related to cattle but look more like antelope and are known for both the males and females having a pair of horns. Saola means “spindle horns” in Vietnamese. It is one of the rarest mammals on the planet.
The word “cheetah” comes from the sanskrit word for “speckled” and sadly that word fittingly describes the current population of Asiatic Cheetahs today – estimated around 100. At one point their natural habitat spread all the way from the Middle East to Central Asia, but today they are also referred to as the “Iranian Cheetah” because it is the only place on earth where the animals are still found. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, all laws regarding the protection of the cheetahs were disbanded and their numbers shrank considerably due to unregulated hunting. Though the laws have been reimplemented, poaching is still a problem to their survival today.
The Phocoena sinus, also known as the Vaquita is a rare and critically endangered species of porpoise. They are the most endangered cetacean with an approximate population between 200 and 500 still remaining. Vaquita’s are only found in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of California. They do not travel far, and have the smallest range of any marine cetacean. They are also the smallest species of porpoise. Their biggest enemy is the nets of commercial fisherman in the area. Though some speculation exists that climate change has affected their food stock because they are confined to such a small area it has been documented that between 39 and 78 Vaquitas are caught and killed in fishing nets every year – numbers that exceed the number of yearly Vaquita births.
The Libythea cinyras is a butterfly known to be extinct. It was found on the island nation of Mauritius off the coast of Africa. There is only one specimen in existence – its holotype – meaning it was the sample used to catalogue the animal upon its discovery and classification in 1866.
“The word ‘orangutan’ in the Malay language literally translates as ‘person of the forest’. Scientific research has revealed that man shares 96% of his genetic make-up with the orangutan. Ironically, this large primate’s brown eyes and human-like behavior have made it a popular trophy pet amongst rich Asians. Of the hundreds of thousands that existed at the beginning of the last century, the number of Sumatran orangutans has fallen below an estimated 7,000 in the wild today. Most of them live in scattered populations in the fast shrinking forests of Indonesia.”*
The Leatherback sea turtle is a vulnerable species, which can travel all the worlds oceans and is capable of circumnavigating the earth within their lifetime. They are the fastest moving reptiles on the planet with speeds clocked in the low 20 mph range. Found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, they reach as far north as Alaska and as far south as the Cape of Good Hope. They are the fourth largest reptiles on the planet and can grow to be as large as a small automobile. A male sea turtle will never leave the sea once they make the long struggle out of their sandy nests. Their odds of survival to adulthood are one in a thousand. Hatchlings are susceptible to predators of all kinds – dogs, cats, rodents, crabs, sea birds, and even humans can reach the nest before and during a hatch. While in the ocean the young hatchlings are vulnerable to hungry fish. If they do reach mature adulthood male and female Leatherbacks will mate upon a chance meeting out at sea. The female will make her way back to the beach she was born to lay her eggs. Female sea turtles lay their eggs on the same exact beach they were born approximately 25-30 years later, which is why coastal development has had an effect on the sea turtle populations globally. A sea turtle may have hatched on a deserted or protected stretch of beach 30 years prior, but return to a beach covered in beach chairs, bright lights, and beach front condos.
There are over 7 billion human beings on the planet and over 8 million known biological species that we share this world with. In our daily lives we come into contact with a minute sampling of this diverse population of species. If you stop to think at the end of a long day how many different animals you can recall coming into contact with you are likely to be able to name only a handful – with fellow human beings and perhaps a sampling of house pets, insects, and native birds likely to be the only creatures on that list. When we hear of animals being critically endangered or even extinct it feels so distant from our capacity to truly understand the weight of such a loss since we haven’t had firsthand experiences with the exotic animals being campaigned for. In a globalized world connected by the vast webbing of the internet we are able to call up an image, description, and even a video of almost anything we seek to know. For this project, however, we wanted to activate the imagination.
For the You Can Only Imagine Project we began with nine animals – each either endangered or extinct – and invited nine artists to partake in the challenge to create a portrait from their imagination. All the artists were given to work with was the Latin name of one of the nine animals. We chose animals with Latin names that were particularly difficult to identify simply by reading the name. Each artist made a promise they would not search the Latin name of their creature on Google, nor would they seek out any research materials or outside help to identify their animal. Instead, we wanted each artist to imagine what this mysterious creature looked like and to create a portrait of that animal strictly from their imagination.
Once an animal becomes extinct from this earth our imagination is all we are left with. We can no longer truly know what that creature is like – to know their habits, how they move, how they play, how they tend to their young, or build shelter. We can only imagine what it was like to share this planet with them.
In the image window above you will see the actual animal that each artist was assigned on the left and the portrait the artist created – strictly from their imagination – on the right.
