Endangered Species

1 By 1975, it was 1,000 species per year, and today animals are disappearing at the appalling rate of more than 40,000 species per year.

2 Most species are threatened by pollution, habitat destruction, and unreasonable exploitation caused by humans.

3 The International Union for Conservation of Nature has created a number of categories that describe the danger level of animal species.

4 A species that has died out completely is called extinct.

5 Species that only live in zoos or on farms,etc, fall into the category extinct in the wild, for example, various horse species.

6 A species is labeled critically endangered when it is in immediate danger of dying out completely.

7 Its numbers are dangerously low, and it needs protection in order to survive.

8 Species that have a high, but not immediate, risk of dying out are simply labeled endangered .

9 A vulnerable species is in less trouble than an endangered one, but its numbers are still certainly decline.

10 Animal species that aren’t particular endangered and have high numbers of individuals are labeled less concern.

11 The main cause of species endangerment is humanity’s destruction of both water and land habitats.

12 The critically endangered Sumatran orangutan has seen a 50% decline in its population over the last eight years as farmers clear more and more forests for agriculture.

13 Uncontrolled hunting of whales in the last century, for example, resulted in many whale species becoming critically endangered.

14 The very high demand for animal parts for use in certain foods or medicines is another example.

15 The horn of the rhinoceros can be sold at a high price in some places where it is thought to be medicinal: a price so high that people will kill the animals even though it is against the law.

16 A native species is one that develops naturally in a particular area, and has done so for a long time.

17 A non-native species might be introduced into a new environment by humans,either intentionally or by accident.

18 The brown tree snake, unknowingly introduced by cargo ships stopping at Guam, has managed to kill off ten of the eleven species of birds native to the island’s forests.

19 The snakes have been quite successful, and now compare with and even threaten the swamp’s alligators.

20 Organizations such as the World Wildlife Found and the International Union for Conservation of Nature try to raise awareness of threatened animals and plants.

21 To preserve the quality of our lives and the lives of future generations, we must also protect plant and animal species now and in the future.