this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
1349 points (96.5% liked)

Science Memes

14397 readers
1939 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] freijon -5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Unpopular opinion: There are already way too many domestic cats and they are responsible for the extinction of various species, mostly birds. They are amongst the most problematic invasive species in the world. Its probably not a good idea to increase their lifespan...

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Popular opinion: I love cats

[–] FozzyOsbourne@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In your country perhaps, cats aren't a problem everywhere. Even the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds maintain that cats are not a major cause of bird decline (in Britain).

[–] freijon 7 points 1 year ago

I'm not only talking about my country, but you're right: The location matters. It's a fact that cats have a noticeable impact on global biodiversity. There is an interesting article on the matter here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42766-6

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Forgive me if I don't treat Britain as an expert on biodiversity, given their history of hunting most of their wildlife to extinction.

[–] FozzyOsbourne@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Well the RSPB shockingly are quite against hunting animals, who'd have thought it? And careful throwing stones from your glass house, didn't your lot hunt the bison almost to extinction the moment they landed?

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

You can get them fixed.

[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

The reason birds are going extinct is humans. Hunting, habitat loss, and climate change are far, far more impactful than cats. As much as they kill, cats shouldn’t even be making a dent in bird populations in most of the world (yes, there are islands and a few microbiomes where they have an outsized impact, and that is an issue that needs to be addressed).

Cats only have such a big impact because we drove those species of birds to the edge of extinction already.