The dinosaurs went extinct more than 65 million years ago. The most accepted theory vis-à-vis

these fossil reptiles’ extinction: they failed to put up with the changing climate. Dinosaurs are just a most known extinction story. Umpteen species of living beings have gone extinct even before Homo sapiens became aware of their existence. In Nepal, at least 11 species of birds and 3 species of mammals have already gone extinct. Currently, more than 1100 species of birds in the world are said to be on the verge of extinction purely due to man-made threats.

The dinosaurs’ disappearance from the face of Earth saddens us even today. Paradoxically, 65 millions years later, we are hell-bent to bring about more pernicious climatic changes and push many a species of living beings - more than twelve million species of living beings inhabit the planet - to extinction. The dinosaurs’ fate taught us nothing - hence, the all-out effort to put the very existence of many a species in peril is in progress around the world and round the clock. This mirrors both the sadist as well as contradictory façade of human nature.

When it comes to extinction, the current hot potatoes are, of course, the tigers. If they knew how few they are and how their number is dwindling fast, it will sure hit them right between the eyes. Next comes, perhaps, man to get shocked (while that may just be a face-saving resort) but in his case, shock should be laced with shame: shameless poaching, shameless deforestation and shameless destruction of the jungle cat’s habitat. Little wonder, hardly 3500 tigers inhabit the planet currently. The chilling fact is that, in India alone, their number exceeded 20,000 in the forties.

After dinosaurs and tigers (as of now, their extinction is imminent), The Yeti is likely to be the most important ‘species’ to join the ‘extinct crowd.’ With the snowline receding alarmingly, the legendary hero of the Himalayas may be flowing down the stream, along with its abode, just to disappear, sadly, never to reappear again.

The bottom-line: No one saw the dinosaurs. Not all will see the tigers. And no one has ever seen the Yeti. The total extinction of the former and the imminent extinction of the latter will, however, be a gloomy commentary for the species represented by “man”.