10 Animals on the Brink of Extinction-Silky Sifafka

               This species of lemur only lives on the island of Madagascar in the northeastern rainforests. Its population is very small and it is hunted by some local people for meat. It is one of the most endangered primates in the world. The silky sifafka has never been bred in captivity, meaning if it is killed entirely in the wild, it most likely can’t be kept alive in a captive breeding program or zoo.

               Unfortunately, the species has a low birth rate. Compounding matters, political turmoil has disrupted normal operations at one of the sites where they live. The Marojejy park has closed to tourism because of unsafe conditions created by armed thugs stealing very valuable hardwoods.

Population: approximately 100 – 1000

Reproduction: generally females birth one infant every two years, but there are cases of a female birthing one infant per year.

10 Animals on the Brink of Extinction- Sumatran Tiger

           The Sumatran Tiger is being decreased substantially by poaching and logging of its traditional forest range. Some of the logging is illegal. Recent research has indicated that the clash between tigers and humans in Sumatra that has killed both species is due to the aggressive destruction of forests by Asia Pulp and Paper.
About 100 tigers live in a nature preserve on the island, but poachers are killing them even in protected areas. The Bali, Java, and Trinil tigers which are related to the Sumatran, have all been driven into extinction.

Population: Approximately 400

Reproduction: Females usually give birth once a year to several cubs. Cubs are born blind.

10 Animals on the Brink of Extinction-Saiga Antelope

             Adults can run up to 50 mph in bursts, and herds have known to range hundreds of miles in several days. As recently as 1950 there could have been about two million saiga, however, the population since then has been reduced by about 97%. The source of the devastation is a very strong demand for the horns of the males for traditional chinese medicine. Poachers are killing the antelopes in a large numbers steadily. Some believe the horns can be used to treat fevers and they are sold for about $100 per pound.

            Traditional medicine often has no basis in science; and is rooted in superstition or anecdotal evidence. It is especially tragic that so many of the antelope are being slaughtered over a misconception. The National Wildlife federation provided an account of the rate of slaughter in one 2004 incident, ”some 80,000 saiga crossed from Kalmykia into the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan to the south. Weeks later, only a few animals returned. ”

Population size: approximately 42,000 but the rate of slaughter is very high, and constant due to poaching. Even in a protected area, the population has been cut 95% since 1997. The saiga is one of the most rapidly declining mammals in the world.

Reproduction: Females breed about once a year, with a litter size of 1-2 calves.

10 Animals on the Brink of Extinction - Iberian Lynx

               The Iberian (Spanish), Lynx lives in very small areas of central and southern Spain (Andalucia). It  used to live throughout Spain and Portugal but its numbers have been drastically reduced to the point where it is now one of the most endangered wild cats in the world.
In the early 1950s a virus named Myxomatosis was illegally introduced by a French scientist to wild rabbits on his estate to protect his vegetable patch. Tragically the virus spread rapidly, and killed about 90% of the wild rabbits in France.  Spanish rabbits also died  in huge numbers even going completely missing in some areas,  so thousands of lynx starved to death. Habitat loss, hunting and trapping also have decimated the lynx. They are protected now, but they still get caught in fox traps.  Another cause of death recently is getting hit by cars in Donana National Park.


Population size: approximately 100 – 150

Reproduction: Females breed about once a year, with a litter size of 1-3 cubs. In breeding captivity programs, a litter of 3 cubs was born in 2005, and another 3 cubs in March 2009.

Baiji River Dolphin & Syrian Wild Ass

The inevitable appears to have arrived for the Baiji River Dolphin, a peaceful, majestic dolphin which had inhabited China’s Yangtze River for at least the last 20 million years. The dolphin was declared functionally extinct after an expedition late in 2006 failed to record a single individual after an extensive search of the animal’s entire range.

Although unconfirmed sightings have come out since then, it’s unlikely that any living individuals, should they still exist, would be able find each other and breed. This tragic demise makes the Baiji Dolphin the first recorded extinction of a cetacean in modern times.

The population had been declining rapidly in recent decades since the rise of Chinese industrialization, which has utilized the Yangtze River as one of its primary arteries. The river is now one of the worst polluted major waterways in the world, being heavily relied upon for transportation and hydroelectricity. Roughly 12% of the world’s human population lives and works within the river’s catchment zone.

Traditional Chinese tales refer to the Baiji as a symbol of peace and prosperity. However, that traditional veneration was denounced during China’s “Great Leap Forward”, which called for hunting the animal in the name of redefining Chinese prosperity.

Regrettably, the Chinese may have got what they called for. Now that the dolphin is extinct, it’s difficult to avoid drowning the kind of prosperity it once symbolized along with it.

The Syrian Wild Ass was likely extinct when the last known captive animal died at the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria, in 1928. It once had a wide range throughout Mesopotamia, where reports were common of large herds which used to roam wildly in the mountains and desert steppes of the Middle East.

Although already threatened beforehand, it is said that the Syrian Wild Ass completely collapsed during World War I, when their habitat was overrun with heavily armed Turkish and British troops.

Javan Tiger & Tecopa Pupfish

Javan Tigers are a subspecies of tiger which were limited to the Indonesian island of Java. The last specimen to have been seen was sighted in 1972, although there is evidence from track counts that the animal had lingered into the 1980′s. The last track counts to yield evidence of the tigers was held in 1979, when just three tigers were identified.

The leading cause of their extinction was agricultural encroachment and habitat loss, which continues to be a serious concern in Java.

There are some who believe that Javan Tigers could still be alive in some of the island’s few remaining forested regions, although even so, the tiger’s numbers would be so low that the species would still be functionally extinct. The region most likely to contain a tiger today would have to be the Meru Betiri National Park, although even that area is now being threatened by mining companies after the discovery of gold nearby.

The Tecopa Pupfish has the unfortunate distinction of being the first species to be declared extinct under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The official de-listing of the animal came in 1981.

The fish were first discovered in the Tecopa Hot Springs in California in 1942, and their decline followed shortly thereafter, as the Hot Springs were canalized and replaced with bathhouses. The final nail in the coffin came when hotels and trailer parks were built nearby to allow for more comfortable recreation for tourists.

Pyrenean Ibex & Bubal Hartebeest

The Bubal Hartebeest was a magnificent, tough beast which was once domesticated by the ancient Egyptians as a food source and for sacrificial purposes. The creature was even mentioned in the Old Testament.
Although it once roamed throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East, the deep-rooted mythology which surrounded the animal was not enough to save it from European hunters who began hunting them for recreation and meat. The last Bubal Hartebeest was probably a female which died in the Paris Zoo in 1923.



The Pyrenean Ibex was the first species to ever be brought back into existence via cloning, only to go extinct again just seven minutes after being born due to lung failure. Here at Ecolocalizer, we reported on the event, which happened in January 2009.

The last naturally born Pyrenean Ibex died on January 6th, 2000; it was found dead under a fallen tree at the age of 13. That animal’s only companion had died just a year earlier due to old age. Although the recent effort to resurrect the Ibex was short-lived, the event does bring optimism, and raise serious debate, about whether extinct creatures should be given a second chance.

Passenger Pigeon & Golden Toad & Caribbean Monk Seal

The story of the Passenger Pigeon is one of the most tragic extinction stories in modern times. As recently as around 200 years ago they weren’t anywhere near extinction. In fact, they were actually the most common bird in North America, and some reports counted single flocks numbering in the billions.

During some migrations, the flocks flying overhead would stretch for over a mile and could take several hours to pass. It would have been impossible to imagine a North American skyline without them. Yet somehow the species went from being one of the most abundant birds in the world to extinction in only about 100 years. What happened?

Colonial hunters happened. The pigeon meat was commercialized and recognized as cheap food, especially for slaves and the poor, which led to a catastrophic hunting campaign on a massive scale. Furthermore, due to the large size of their flocks, the birds were seen as a threat to farmers. In fact, in 1703 the Catholic bishop of Quebec actually excommunicated the entire species.

The last known Passenger Pigeon, named “Martha”, died in captivity on September 1st, 1914, in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1896, the last flock of 250,000 birds were slaughtered by hunters despite the knowledge that it was the last flock of that size left.

The first recorded account of the Golden Toad was by herpetologist Jay Savage in 1966, and the last sighting of the species was made in 1989. The toad, showcased by its brilliant golden orange colorization, was native to the tropical cloud forests which surround Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Their extinction symbolizes a large scale decline in amphibian numbers worldwide over the last several decades, which has likely been caused by global warming and climate change. In fact, famed Australian biologist Tim Flannery has described the extinction of the Golden Toad to be the first demise of a species due primarily to global warming.

The Caribbean Monk Seal was the only known seal which was native to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It is also the only species of seal to go extinct directly due to human causes. It was officially declared extinct on June 6th, 2008, although the last recorded account of the species was made at Serranilla Bank between Honduras and Jamaica in 1952.

Their eventual demise, brought on by human hunting, was symbolized during Columbus’ 1494 voyage, when the tiny seals were described as “sea wolves” and 8 were recorded to have been killed and slaughtered for their meat.

Tasmanian Tiger & Quagga

The last Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine died at Hobart Zoo in Tasmania, Australia on September 7, 1936. The picture of the last Tasmanian Tiger shown above is Benjamin who was suspected to have died of neglect after being locked out of its sheltered quarters due during extreme weathers. The biggest cause for these animal extinction in the wild was a massive hunting campaign instituted by the Tasmanian government from 1888 to 1909, justified because the Tasmanian Tigers were believed to be a threat to sheep and hens.

The Quagga is a unique variety of Plains Zebra, marked by its stripes on the front of its body, with hair color transitioning toward a light brown or tan along its rear and underbelly, until becoming white along its legs. This picture represents the only Quagga ever to have been photographed alive, taken at the London Zoo in 1870. Its unique hide made the Quagga a target for hunters and poachers, and the last known wild Quagga was probably killed in the late 1870′s. The species went extinct on August 12th, 1883, when the last specimen died at a zoo in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

11 More Extinct Animals

Today, I found an article on Google about 11 extinct animals. In my next few blogs, I will be introducing those animals but in the meantime, here are the pictures of them.

Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center

           In high school, I took AP Biology and each month in each class we had to read and respond to an article in the Missouri Conservation magazine. At that time, things did not matter to be as much as it do today. Going to the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center made me realize many things. I know my blog is suppose to be about animals who are endangered or going extinct due to global warming but going to the discovery center made me realize how ungrateful humans are. It is because of humans that the balance between humans are not balance in any way. Looking at the displays on the wall and in the classrooms and reading about it, I know that is is imposssible to give those animals an evironment that they want and need because what is left of it is impossible for them to live in. Hunting and constructions have killed many those animals off. In many ways, we are responsible for what happens to them.

What we can do to help

To learn more about how you can help those animals in endangered visit:

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=820

What is the Endangered Species Act of 1973?

            The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozen environmental laws the United States passed in the 1970s. The act signed by Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973 was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was written by a team of lawyers and scientist, including the first appointed head of the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ); Dr Russell E. Train. 

             Under the leadership of Dr. Train, the staff incorporated dozens of new principles and ideas into the legislation and crafting a document that completely changed the direction of environmental conservation in the United States. 

            

To understand more about the Endangered Species Act of 1973, visit this website for more information: 

http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/esact.html

Leatherback Sea Turtle

• Fact: The largest of all sea turtles, leatherbacks are also the deepest divers of any reptile species, reaching documented depths greater than 4,000 feet
• Location: They are located globally in the oceans
• Global Warming Impacts: Rising seas and stronger storms threaten breeding beaches and nests. Hotter beaches result in lower hatching rates and fewer male hatchlings. Warmer seas may slow currents sea turtles ride to forage and travel
• Status: Endangered under the Endangered Species Act

Monarch Butterfly

• Fact: It takes multiple generations to complete its round trip migration
• Location: North America (including Central Mexico), South America, Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Mauritius, the Canary Islands, and western Europe
• Global Warming Impacts: Eastern U.S. populations are vulnerable to wetter winters in central Mexico; hotter, drier climates to the north are driving the monarch’s eastern breeding range northward
• Status: The IUCN has designated the monarch migration a “threatened phenomenon”

Canada Lynx

•  America’s second largest cat, after the mountain lion
• Canada lynx is specially adapted to hunting in snow
• They live in Canada and Northern U.S
• Global Warming Impacts: Warm spells affect duration and texture of the snowpack, which changes hunting dynamics between the lynx and showshoe hare
• Status: They are listed as "Threatened” under the Endangered Species Act

American Pika

• Facts: They may look like a hamster, but they are actually closely related to hares and rabbits.
• Range: Mountains of Western U.S
• Global Warming Impacts: The American Pikas are extemely sensitive to heat (even short exposure to temperatures about 78 degrees can be fatal). They depend on snow cover for insulation in the winter.
• Current Status: Under review for listing under Endangered Species Act

Polar Bears

• Polar Bears are one of the many animals that are being threaten by global warming.
• Due to extreme climate changes, large amounts of the Polar Bear's habitat are disappearing.
• Polar bears are now standing on thin and melting sheets of ice that would eventually break and cause many to float out to sea.
• According to Defender of Wildlife, fifteen years ago, 65 percent of cubs reach the age of 12 months. Today there are only 42 percent of cubs that reach that age.
• There are currently 20,000 Polar Bears left in the arctic region.

 

Are we responding to our planet's message?



Animal Extinction and Endangerment Caused by Global Warming

George Carlin once said "We're so self-important. So arrogant. Everybody's going to save something now…. And the supreme arrogance? Save the planet! Are these people kidding? Save the planet? We don't even know how to take care of ourselves; we haven't learned how to care for one another. We're gonna save the fuckin' planet?” As unpleasant as it sounds, he is right. Issues like Global warming, is and had been a threat to life on Earth, but it is something that humans have caused. So, how can we save the planet and reverse the damage? The truth is, there is not much we can do although there is a slight chance of preserving what is left and the thing that I hope to preserve are the animals. Innocent animals worldwide are going extinct and endangered due to extreme weather changes.

            I became interested in the topic of animal extinction and endangerment caused by global warming during my freshmen year in college while doing research for a class. To my surprise, it fascinated me how beautiful some of those animals were and how they were slowly being murdered by what humans have caused.