Though other news of the day may dominate worldwide headlines, a quiet February 19th story from Australia may bear the most ominous message for humanity's future: manmade climate changed has caused its first mammal extinction.
Twitter user @Tim_Beshara brought the extinction of the Bramble Cay melomys to the public eye with a thread detailing the years of negligence that lead to their deaths.
The Bramble Cay melonys were small mouse-like rodents with long snouts and knobby tails who lived on the northern coast of Australia, where sea-levels have been changing due to anthropogenic (man-made) climate change.
Government officials attempted to downplay the official announcement of the species' demise, but Beshara made it very clear that the melomy's extinction was entirely preventable and ultimately caused by climate change.
Back in 2008, the government vastly underestimated the impact climate change would have on local species.
Due to their poor planning, the entirety of the species was washed out to sea by a huge storm surge and no captive breeding program was in place to save their genetic line.
Now, environmentalists on Twitter are supporting each other and trying to hold government officials accountable for their lack of action.
Social media users are pressing themselves and their governments to try and ensure nothing like this happens again if we can help it.
The death of the melomys could also indicate a dangerous future for all mammals if climate change continues.
All life on earth is in danger, and people are seriously scared.
If humankind doesn't take drastic, immediate action to minimize the impact of climate change, more extinctions are soon to come.
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