Life, Extinction, Time
Darwin Day was two days ago. I'm officially late.
Oh, well. A single day is, after all, a infinitesimally small amount of time compared with all the time that has passed, and smaller still if you add all the time that will pass. It's a wonder I have time to write at all, really.
Speaking of the march of time, I recently found this interesting video on Gigantopithecus blacki and how the largest ape we know to have ever lived went extinct. In the video, this paper is discussed (and it's free for anyone to read), revealing that Gigantopithecus likely died out because its specific diet and large size made it difficult to adapt to changes.
I am reminded, through the data and explanations of specialized and generalized diets, that we are not only lucky to be alive in this fantastic world, but we, as all creatures, are but a moment in its history.
That may sound a bit bleak or devil-may-care about extinction as a whole. I mean it only as a statement of fact. Humans, as we exist today, will someday not exist. I can only hope that we will evolve into something different, more suited to the world we are currently affecting. Or, perhaps we are the end of a branch on the evolutionary tree.
Whatever turns out to be true, it will be a wonder.