Re: BAP 'N Dump -Reply

[swaldron@slip.net (Steven J. Waldron)]

>I am looking forward to breeding apistos and continuing to breed kribs for
>fun and education. I have no pretentions of "species preservation" and in
>fact find the idea ridiculous. Maybe I should pick another word to avoid
>offending people, but that's how I feel. What is the point of preserving
>our little slice of time? Is it any better than a different little slice of
>time? Millions of species have come and gone, probably somewhat less will
>come and go. Man's expansion is inevitable. There will be less room for
>animals and plants. I am all for captive breeding if the purpose is to
>reestablish a wild population that has a chance for survival, but what do
>you hope to achieve by preserving rare apisto species for example? As their
>natural habitat gets wiped out they likely will only be able to exist in
>aquarists' "zoos". To me this is like attempting to preserve American
>Indian cultures with reservations. Pathetic and doomed to failure.
>
>Just one cynic's little opinion,
>
>-Doug Brown
>debrown@kodak.com

Doug,
You make good points (what is a species without its habitat?) but I think
you have missed the jist of the latest 'species preservation' thread. Not
preservation for posterity's sake, I think we are too small a group to
direct the course of evolution. However, we can "preserve" and ensure
access to good strains of dwarf cichlids for our own lifetimes at least.
- - Steve