Text Cut: Responses

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Once Ary spotted his fellow seventh year - Arienne - moving to take a seat not far from him, he gave her a smile. It then occurred to him just how much he’d miss seeing a lot of these faces after he graduated. Anyway. He had perhaps developed a knack for mostly evading animal poop thanks to life on the family Reserve. Thankfully, today was also one of those days that the habit worked in his favour.

The Slytherin thought carefully on the question, mentally checking off animals that he thought or knew were sadly extinct or sadly about to be. Only then did he raise a hand and waited to be called on. “The Diricawl, a bird native to Mauritius, is not exactly extinct but Muggles, who know them as ‘Dodos’, believe them to be. That's most likely because the birds can Apparate at will and possibly. They most likely did so to avoid danger and well... were never to be seen again by the Muggles.”

"That's right." Kraetos said, a hint of a smirk. It was like the student read his mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

With the professor's encouragement, Ember muttered a discreet, quiet "Scourgify" on her shoe, and now it was clean of animal poo. Hopefully no one had seen her accidentally step in it when she had arrived before class began. There was just...so much going on in her head these days, things that had become harder to ignore, that she'd forgotten to be more careful about where she stepped. Her face was warm with embarrassment, even if nobody had noticed.

The lesson beginning was a good distraction though. She was determined to focus.

"Um, there's the woolly mammoth," she said after raising her hand. "They've been extinct for thousands of years, unfortunately." And it was a shame because she would've liked to see one herself.

"Yes." Kraetos said. "I believe some Muggles are still working on reviving them."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weasley174

Mary-Lou had been sitting in silence. She was still finding everything strange and felt nervous. She was trying her best to come out of her shell a little, but she still couldn’t get used to all these unusual lessons. Now they were talking about animals close to extinction. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but she raised her hand.

“Aren’t the Galápagos tortoises nearly extinct? When the Europeans found them on an island, they kept trying to take them back with them—but they discovered the tortoises were delicious and ended up eating them instead of returning with them.”

With that, she waited for the next person to speak. She didn’t want to add anything else—she was far too nervous for that.

"Correct, though there are projects still active in keeping them around as long as possible." He said. "The tricky thing is even with magical help, cloning DNA is among the top advanced set of magic, making it controversial to even attempt."

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhittyBitty

And there was her annoying older brother. Aurora rolled her eyes and playfully poked him back. Arienne got a friendly smile when she took her place on the opposite side of her from Ary. She was happy to spend this class time with them both, since they would be graduating after this term. It was sad to think of, so it was something that she didn’t like to dwell on.

As Adrian took his place, Aurora saw how clearly unhappy he was. It made her frown wifh concern. She hoped that whatever was wrong, he would be okay soon. Hopefully the lesson would cheer his spirits. In her opinion it was hard to be unhappy when surrounded by creatures.

Since she hadn’t stepped in anything on her way to class, Aurora didn’t need to clean her shoes. Instead she listened as the lesson began and raised her hand to answer the first question. ”The golden snidget was almost hunted to extinction. At one point it was believed by some that they were extinct, but they aren’t. They’re just really rare now and are a protected species.” It was horrible what people could do to creatures.

"That's correct." He said. "Reservations currently are in the process of protecting them, but their rarity seems to entice poachers." He was generally a realist, but cute ones like Snidgets have him thinking more optimistic on their future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

FAVORTIST class, LEAST favorite topic.

Some of the pep in her (seated) step was lost as the lesson began. Extinct or nearly extinct creatures was not just a tragic topic on a global scale, but it was a very sensitive one to the blonde considering the sanctuary her parents started and the same one she had grown up in and called home, surrounded by magical creatures in need of care, refuge, and protection. While the majority of the time mum and dad were not taking in endangered creatures, the poor things had found their way temporarily to the sanctuary before mum and dad passed them along to the institutions and people better equipped to handle those needs. The scariest of those had been a Romanian Longhorn hatchling - scary not because it was a dragon but because of what people had been capable of doing to the poor thing. Humans, non-magical AND wizarding, were the absolute worst curse on the planet capable of being physical manifestations of Dark magic. Sometimes, everyday was a reminder of humanity's WORST instincts and her joy in being surrounded by creatures sometimes had her forgetting this. The sanctuary had been a lifeline for these special hearts, but that didn't make the stories of harm they'd endured any easier to swallow.

But… Bria refused to let the sadness swallow her up and took her time reflecting on stories dad and grampy had shared with her. She thought of grampy, still working tirelessly with grannie to protect the Stubby Purple Coral colonies - something Bria didn’t know nearly as much about as she did creatures but understood to be incredibly important. If the corals went extinct, entire ecosystems would collapse. Just like extinct creatures impacted their ecosystems.

So uuuuuuuuuuuup went her hand and ramble did she do once it was her turn to speak. "There were these flightless birds called the Moa once..." Bria started, her voice filled with enthusiasm, and her eyes wide as she leaned forward in her seat. "...they were native to New Zealand and they were absolutely crucial when it came to the vegetation. They grazed on a wide range of plants...kept everything balanced, you know? So without them grazing, there was an overgrowth of some and I think maybe some plant species were even lost because the Moa were gone," her hands were waving now, by the way, and her words were coming fast, "because of humans, by the way, who hunted them into extinction. Because the Moa were gone, other animal species ALSO went extinct...like the Haast’s eagle."

Birds! She had things to say about Golden Snidgets and Diricawl TOO, but since those were already mentioned it was for the best she show some restraint. Though she was hoping to go help on the Colchester Golden Snidget Sanctuary next break and see how some of the broken winged ones mum and her had brought over were doing - and hopefully they would remember her too!

And, no, she wasn't quite done speaking - though someone may want to get her a soap box for this next bit. Surely her eagerness wouldn't bother anyone, right?

"It is really awful, extinction and near extinction," Bria said, her voice turning a little more serious but not lower in volume. "Birds, in particular, are CRUCIAL for spreading seeds around. Without them, plants could struggle to even grow and that means there's less plant diversity and then it ripples out! Fewer plants means fewer creatures, and it all goes downhill from there, doesn't it?" Her hands were in the air again - though they hadn't been down for very long either. "But it’s not just that because birds are also predators and prey. Take them out of the food chain and suddenly eeeeeeeeeeeverything is out of whack. AND their poop is also super important too! Essential for nutrient cycling!"

So, really, people ought to be grateful when a bird pooped on them! And all that dung and manure you smelled or stepped in a blessing! Inspiring, even!

Kraetos nodded at her mentioning Moas. "I agree." Mankind can be cruel and selfish enough to ruin the status of marvelous creatures. And yes, he agreed about the poop, as well. It was a healthy and natural function. "If only they could share your sentiments." And he meant it..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samia

While the rest of the class was still arriving, Adrian had busied himself nudging a bit of dirt off his boot with the tip of his wand. Just needing something to keep himself distracted. It was ... annoying, really. Muttering the cleaning charm under his breath more out of habit than care, Adrian tried to listen in -- and surely the mention of “extinct creatures” tugged his attention just enough to make him glance up.

“Thestrals,” he said after a pause, voice steady but low. “Not extinct, exactly. But rare enough people forget they exist unless they’ve got a reason to see one.” His dark eyes flicked toward the edge of the clearing, as if expecting one to appear just to prove him right.

Kraetos paused for a moment to think. "Hm.. quite a unique thought process, Mr. Massey." It was definitely not a traditional view of near extinction. "Well reasoned."

"Now then..." Menon said. "Today's creatures we'll be playing a game with are the Diricawls in the Sanctuary." Adding, "As Mister Atreyu-Rehman shared, they are referred to by non-magical folk as the Dodo bird, declared extinct in the 19th century in their world. However, they remain well and living within our domain. It just so happens part of their evolution is realizing they were safer within our world instead of non-magical folk with poachers. For muggles, the closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon." But enough on the facts.

"Let's consider for a moment that you had the abilities of a Diricawl to vanish. If given the chance to teleport at will, where would you aim to disappear to, and what would have caused you to want to vanish?" Menon could imagine the type of responses he'll get, but he was always up for a surprise.

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OOC: Thank you for waiting! Feel free to be creative with your answers. The first part of the activity will begin around 30 hours from now.