I was deeply moved on learning of this brilliant, profound and ultimately humanitarian enterprise. It does the UK proud. I hope the US and others will follow suit.
Professor E.O. Wilson to Professor Ghillean Prance, Chairman of MEMO
21st January 2009
The West African Black Rhino was declared extinct in 2006, while the Northern White Rhino hangs on by a thread.
But the Southern White Rhino having been reduced to 50 individuals in the 1950s now numbers in the thousands.
The sixth mass extinction is not inevitable.
By commemorating the marvellous creatures that have perished, the purpose of the MEMO project is to inspire the protection of the marvellous creatures that still live.
The Northern White Rhino has a lineage that stretches back 60 million years – almost to the time of the dinosaurs. It is not yet extinct. Up to thirteen animals still survive in the Garamba National Park World Heritage Site in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
With the Holocene Extinction Event we are currently witnessing the most rapid species decline in the Earth's history.
These are examples of large, photogenic and memorable species; current estimates are that half of all species will become extinct within a century.