Do you really mean evolution is a natural process and extinction is an effect of that? Probably true for all sorts of reasons starting with the meteor/comet/dinosaur theory and then climate change as second favorite. These things might be considered 'natural'. ie. of nature.

The fact is Man is deveoping a real knack for engineering extinctions as a result of his actions including races of his own kind. Is that natural? Are we that bad?

__________________
I care for:

1.0.0 Red Eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)- 10/11 yrs old

0.0.2 Leopard-Spotted Catfish (Synodontis eupterus) -5/6 yrs old

0.0.1 Red Tailed Shark (Epalzeorhynchus bicolor) - 7 yrs old

2.1.0 Moggies - various ages

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured
by the way in which its animals are treated."
- Mahatma Ghandi

Nobody can dispute that fact, but I don't think it is really applicable to the current discussion. There is also the theory of species being destined for extinction. This has been used for species such as the Giant panda which despite every effort being made seems to be unwilling to breed to save itself.

__________________
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead.
Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow.
Do not walk beside me either, just f*** off and leave me alone.

If you stop and think about it... man is a part of the evolutionary process... the dangerous part about it as far as you or I are concerned is that he/she can put thought into the process... we can affect the outcome.

As far as the tortoises go... my question is why have some seemed to overcome the influence of man?

I think they were doomed to begin with and we just hurried it on.

It would be possible to get some idea if you could get estimates of the population numbers and sex ratio before they started getting 'harvested'. Plug the figures into a Population Viability Program and see how it may have worked out. Would be interesting to see the results.

__________________
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead.
Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow.
Do not walk beside me either, just f*** off and leave me alone.

No doubt. Interesting but not very realistic.

You can't change the past but you can hope to learn from it.

In this case... move on.

What's interesting about LG is that the population was probably small to begin with.

Do you think that tortoise was targeted... I don't think so.

Were only responsible for a tiny fraction of extinctions - after all we've only been around for at the very most 200,000 years.