‘Extinction is forever’

Press, 15 April 1980, Page 21

‘Extinction is forever’

This week’s episode of the 10-part “Botanic Man,” written and presented by the naturalist, David Bellamy, is entitled, “Extinction 'if Forever.”

This programme (TV2 tonight) illustrates that nature is both precise and precarious. In the Indian Ocean, on the island, of Aldabra, the giant tortoises prove to be a case in point. The tortoises are con-*

fined to the - tiny island and as they forage for food the more intrepid among them — those that would seem. to be the “evolutionary pioneers” as they search farthest for food — are likely to die as a result of their attempting to break new ground. Theirs is the longest journey back to the shade of the scrub forest and the heat will often be too much for them.

It seems a harsh lesson and although the tortoises have remained unchanged over millions of years, they have fulfilled evolution’s first rule — survival. This is more than can be said of the legendary Dodo, the extinct native of the nearby island of Mauritius. But it Was not the Dodo’s doing that brought about his ultimate fate; it had evolved to be flightless in its island home and, as Man’s aspirations

conflicted with its own, it failed to survive. But the programme points out that perhaps Man is fulfilling his evolutionary role in providing for himself and driving the Dodo to extinction. That is, of course, the dilemma and as a further example of its continuing existence, Bellamy presents rare film of the fabled Pink Pigeon which could only too easily share the fate of the Dodo.