What better way to start the new year than by reminding ourselves of what we’ve done wrong?

Betula szaferi is a kind of birch tree that no longer exists in the wild.  Before this particular species went extinct, it hybridized with Betula pendula to form the species Betula oycoviensis, so in a way it’s survived.

Betula oycoviensis

This is a picture of that hybrid species. (I think. The page is in Polish.) If you’d like to see the real thing, there’s one living specimen left at the Krakow Botanical Gardens.

Have you made your New Year’s resolutions yet?  How about signing up for the World Wildlife Fund’s Conservation Action Network?  They’ll let you know when important issues come before Congress so you can write your senators and representatives.