This just about sums it up for me. In addition to their Amazing Versatile Kidneys, vampire bats are also the only bat species capable of taking up vertically (they have incredibly strong shoulder muscles that launch them three feet straight up). They can also scuttle sideways and backwards like crabs, and their teeth self-sharpen. They’re awesome.
Taking off, not taking up. Rrgh.
I wouldn’t cry if cockroaches became extinct.
But I’d cry if you went extinct! I was lucky to spot a jabiru out of the corner of my eye while driving across the southern Yucatan peninsula. It was standing in a swampy, forested area. Man, those things are massive.
You might. Cockroaches do a damn fine job at waste removal. Bye bye cocroaches=waist high in crap.
I don’t know about you but I would rather have cockroaches then mile high piles of crap!
I did qualify my answer “if you were serious”. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine this subject. Anyway you say that you were joking but you make exactly the same points. Most living organisms cause harm in some way. We could debate what “positive effect” means, how it’s measured and whether it’s relevant all night long. Telemark said it well. The icky remark was regarding the blood feeding, maybe I misunderstood that. But you’re right, I probably shouldn’t have participated in this thread, I don’t care for its spirit and I think the premise is flawed.
Homo Sapiens.
Cats.
I would have no problems if Erythroxylum coca and Papaver somniferum became extinct. (Not that it would stop all trafficking, synthetics would hit the streets rather quickly, but it would put an extreme dent in the market.)
I would not miss these guys either. One reason I refuse to believe in intelligent design.