# If you could snap your fingers and render one species globally extinct, would you?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 13, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633 "2007-07-13T12:32:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/1 "2007-07-13T12:32:02Z")
You have been granted the magic fingers of extinction, one time use only. Snap them and name one species out loud and it will disappear forever from the face of the earth. Will you use this power? Upon what?
And note: we’re talking about a _species_ - you might get away with several closely-related/allied species if you say ‘camels’ or ‘cows’, but if you say "bugs’ or ‘bacteria’, it just isn’t going to work, and by ‘_isn’t going to work_’, I actually mean the whole universe will explode, so be careful.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/2 "2007-07-13T12:41:33Z")
No, I wouldn’t.
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/3 "2007-07-13T12:42:15Z")
_Toxicodendron rydbergii_
poison ivy
I’d really be concerned about the greater implications of getting rid of mosquitoes or something.
Maybe the Guinea Worm, though.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/4 "2007-07-13T12:47:00Z")
Would the HIV virus count as a species? I just don’t see where it’s doing any good. Off with ye.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/5 "2007-07-13T12:54:16Z")
I’d be seriously-tempted to do away with the mosquito, but I’ve seen too many dragonflies chowin’ down on them to so it. So… I probably wouldn’t.
In reality, I can’t snap my fingers.
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### Author:  [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/6 "2007-07-13T13:09:36Z")
Cockroaches.
Fruit flies.
Tapeworms.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/7 "2007-07-13T13:10:23Z")
No. I would render some of them “the fuck away from me” but I realize we need them to maintain balance on the planet.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/8 "2007-07-13T13:15:41Z")
Giant Pandas. They’re asking for it.
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### Author:  [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/9 "2007-07-13T13:18:31Z")
I’m going to have to nominate [the candirú fish](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010907.html). Even Uncle Cecil appears to not like this little guy…
As far as I am concern there is no place for an animal who can swim into an open urethra and stick nasty spines into ones nether regions.
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### Author:  [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/10 "2007-07-13T13:25:46Z")
The bug that causes malaria.
I was tempted to write the cockroach, then I started to worry about something taking its place that was even worse.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/11 "2007-07-13T13:25:50Z")
I’d destroy HIV.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/12 "2007-07-13T13:27:10Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
I’d destroy HIV.
[/QUOTE]
I’d destroy _you_, for showing up 7 posts too late. 😉
Next choice? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/13 "2007-07-13T13:28:41Z")
[QUOTE=mks57]
The bug that causes malaria.
[/QUOTE]
This was my vote, after reading the malaria article in the latest National Geo. They said that some scientists estimate that 50% of all the humans in history have died of malaria, and that it’s by no means controlled in most of the world even now.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/14 "2007-07-13T13:30:11Z")
HIV is a pretty freakin’ solid choice. I can’t think of anything else that would come close. If, however, researchers find out that cancer has a viral instigator, I’d choose that instead.
Daniel
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### Author:  [@DustyButt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DustyButt)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/15 "2007-07-13T13:33:33Z")
Ticks, fleas, and the like.
If you can cast a vote for viruses/bacteria I’d rather opt for influenza/common cold or any of the bugs that cause pneumonia.
I’d concider malaria, but that could already be wiped out within a couple of years if we actually tried.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/16 "2007-07-13T13:34:08Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
HIV is a pretty freakin’ solid choice. I can’t think of anything else that would come close. If, however, researchers find out that cancer has a viral instigator, I’d choose that instead.
Daniel
[/QUOTE]
_shrugs_ HPV (human papilloma virus) can cause cervical cancer…maybe there are other similar cases?
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### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/17 "2007-07-13T13:37:50Z")
HIV
HPV
The Anopheles 'Skeeter (the malaria fiend)
The little amoeba that causes dysentery, unless it serves some useful purpose I don’t know about.
ants
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### Author:  [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/18 "2007-07-13T13:40:02Z")
Humans…hehe
Oh shi…
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### Author:  [@DustyButt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DustyButt)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/19 "2007-07-13T13:42:47Z")
I was curious about malaria, and I found out that resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to chloroquine has spread recently from Asia to Africa, making drugs ineffective against the most dangerous Plasmodium strain in many affected regions of the world.
So, malaria is back on my list.
Sorry.
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### Author:  [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-snap-your-fingers-and-render-one-species-globally-extinct-would-you/411633/20 "2007-07-13T13:55:38Z")
Common houseflies.
I hate them. Cringe when I see them.
_shudder_
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