Endangered animal In the world

Facts About Endangered Species

According to scientists, more than one and one-half million species exist on the earth today. However, recent estimates state that at least 20 times that many species inhabit the planet.

• There are more than 1,000 animal species endangered worldwide.
• There are more than 3,500 protected areas in existence worldwide.
• These areas include parks, wildlife refuges and other reserves.
• They cover a total of nearly 2 million square miles (5 million square km), or 3% of our total land area.
  
  
  African Elephants
  Loxodonta africana
  





African elephants once numbered in the millions across Africa, but by the mid-1980s their populations had been devastated by poaching. The status of the species now varies greatly across the continent. Some populations remain in danger due to poaching for meat and ivory, habitat loss and conflict with humans.
Elephants are important because their future is tied to much of Africa's rich biodiversity. Scientists consider African elephants to be keystone species as they help to maintain suitable habitats for many other species in savanna and forest ecosystems.
Subspecies:
Savanna elephant(Loxodonta africana africana)
Forest elephant(Loxodonta Africana cyclotis)


Africa Rhinos

Rhinos once roamed throughout Eurasia and Africa, and were known to early Europeans who depicted them in cave paintings. Within historical times, rhinos were still widespread in the African savannas and the tropical forests of Asia. Today however, very few rhinos now survive outside national parks and reserves. There are five species of rhino, three species are found in Asia and two are found in Africa.Black rhino and white rhino are found in Africa. There are two subspecies of white rhino, the southern white rhino is now most abundant rhino in the world and is listed as endangered. The northern white rhino is critically endangered. There are four subspecies of the critically endangered black rhino, eastern, southwestern, southern central and western. The western subspecies is thought to be extinct.

Amur Leopard
Panthera pardus orientalis

This is the Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), also known as the Far East leopard, the Manchurian leopard or the Korean leopard. Its population is less than 40 individuals.IUCN's 2000 Red List of Threatened Species classifies the subspecies as Critically Endangered, and the CITES has listed it on Appendix I. The Amur leopard has some very distinguishing features. Apart from its long winter coat, the Amur leopard is easily told apart from other leopard subspecies by its widely spaced rosettes with thick borders. It also has longer legs, probably an adaptation for walking through snow.


Giant Panda
Ailuropoda melanoleuca

The giant panda is the rarest member of the bear family and among the world’s most threatened animals. Today, the giant panda's future remains uncertain because its population is less than 2,500 mature in the wild.As China's economy continues rapidly developing, this bamboo-eating member of the bear family faces a number of threats. Its forest habitat, in the mountainous areas of southwest China, is increasingly fragmented by roads and railroads. Habitat loss continues to occur outside of protected areas, while poaching remains an ever-present threat.



Eastern Lowland Gorilla
Gorilla beringei graueri

Separated from western gorillas by about 560 miles of Congo Basin forest, eastern gorillas inhabit the upland and mountain forests of eastern Central Africa. The eastern lowland gorilla subspecies exists only in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They are found at lower altitudes along the western wall of the Albertine Rift Valley in eastern DRC. There are no reliable estimates of their numbers due to lack of census data in remote regions, as well as the unknown impact of decades of civil conflict in eastern DRC. The largest protected population in Kahuzi Biega National Park has declined noticeably in the past ten years due to war-related habitat destruction and hunting.


Marine Turtles
Cheloniidae / Dermochelyidae families

Six of the seven species of marine turtles are listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered, and the outlook is increasingly grim. In the Pacific, leatherbacks are heading for extinction, fast, and in the Mediterranean, green turtle numbers have plummeted.Marine turtles appear to have the potential to reproduce abundantly: females can lay hundreds of eggs in one nesting season. But even under "natural" conditions, relatively few young turtles survive their first year of life.Predators such as crabs, foxes, and birds often kill the hatchlings as they make their way from the nest to the sea, and when they reach the shallows, many more small turtles are taken by fish. When humans harvest turtle eggs, disturb or degrade nesting beaches, the scales become tipped even more heavily against young turtles.It takes decades for surviving juveniles to reach maturity and start to breed, and adult turtles must live to reproduce over many years if the population is to thrive. But escalating mortality on the high seas, in the nets and long-lines of fishing fleets, and from pollution and disease, means fewer and fewer turtles are living long enough to reproduce.



Polar Bear
Ursus maritimus

In 1973, Canada, the United States, Denmark, Norway and the former U.S.S.R. signed the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears and their Habitat. This agreement restricts the hunting of polar bears and directs each nation to protect their habitats, but it does not protect the bears against the biggest man-made threat to their survival: climate change. If current warming trends continue unabated, scientists believe that polar bears will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century. WWF provides funding to field research by the world's foremost experts on polar bears to find out how climate change will affect the long-term status of polar bears. Of all of the wildlife species in the Arctic, the polar bear is perhaps the most fitting icon for this ecoregion. Its amazing adaptations to life in the harsh Arctic environment and dependence on sea ice make them so impressive, and yet so vulnerable. Large carnivores are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health. Polar bears are studied to gain an understanding of what is happening throughout the Arctic as a polar bear at risk is often a sign of something wrong somewhere in the arctic marine ecosystem.


Tree Kangaroo

Tree-kangaroos are macropods adapted for life in trees.Unlike their close cousins, their arms and legs are approximately the same length. Tree kangaroos also have much stronger fore-limbs to help in climbing the trees they inhabit.They are mostly found in the rainforests of New Guinea, the far north east of Queensland and nearby islands, usually in mountainous areas.Although mainly found in mountainous areas, several species also occur in lowlands, such as the aptly named Lowlands Tree-kangaroo.The interesting thing about tree kanagroos is that they stuck to their roots.Millions of years ago the early Marcopods (kangaroos) came down from the trees and started to evolve their unique way of living and moving. However, at some point on this evolutionary timescale, the tree kangaroos decided to return to the trees... and no one has yet found out why.

Lion-Tailed Macaque

The habitat of this small monkey is India's tropical rainforests. Many of these forests have been cleared and replaced with tea and coffee plantations. Unlike some other animals, the lion-tailed macaque has not been able to adapt to these new habitats. Poachers have also captured baby macaques, often killing their parents in the process, for illegal export to collectors.



Mandarin Duck

The mandarin duck (the brightly coloured male is illustrated) may often be seen on ponds and lakes in Britain, but its native home is across eastern Asia, in Russia, China, Korea and Japan. It may be found on water which is near forests, but the forests are being felled and the water drained, making the duck more and more endangered.