Today, there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of extinct species of animals and plants. Unfortunately, over the past centuries, the process of extinction of species has not stopped, but rather has even intensified thanks to man. What representatives of the animal world can we lose in the near future? How to save endangered animal species? We'll talk about all this.
Why are animals dying?
From the very moment of its appearance, our planet is constantly changing, and with it the map of continents and oceans, landscapes, as well as the diversity of living beings are changing. More than once on Earth, some species of animals appeared and other species disappeared, and far from always a person had a hand in this. Among the natural causes of extinction are:
- Global catastrophes.
- Interspecies competition.
- Change in climate and other components of the environment.
- Genetic uniformity.
- Diseases, parasite attacks.
- A sharp increase in the number of predators.
For the entire history of ourThere were at least six mass extinctions of animals on the planet, provoked by the onset of the ice age, increased volcanic activity, falls of celestial bodies, changes in the composition of the atmosphere, and other possible factors. With the advent of man, the reasons for the death of entire biological species became even greater. With the growth of our knowledge and skills, we actively subjugated everything that surrounds us. By doing this, we sometimes made irreparable changes in the nature of the Earth. Animals were exterminated in huge numbers, both intentionally and completely by accident.
Direct extermination of species occurred and continues to occur for the sake of obtaining meat, skins, bones and various products of their vital activity (silk, shells, pearls, ink, poison, etc.). Animals are also exterminated to protect agricultural land and other territories. Accidental destruction is much more common. It occurs during wars, road and industrial accidents, as a result of pollution of the natural environment, and also when a person changes natural landscapes in the course of his activities (builds dams, roads, cities, cuts down forests).
Species that have disappeared due to our fault
As mentioned above, there are many reasons for the extinction of species. However, over the past millennium, humans have become the main threat to the animal world. Mastering all new territories, we interfered with the long-established order of things. As a result of our activities, the fauna of not only distant corners of the world (Australia, South America, New Zealand, Mauritius, Tasmania), but also the surrounding lands has changed significantly. Here are just a few typesanimals extinct due to human fault:
- Tour. The wild bull, which is the progenitor of domestic cattle. He lived in Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor. The image of the tour was often found in Slavic and European folklore, and the bull itself was a valuable source of meat. Tours became extinct due to hunting and human activities. The last population disappeared in 1627 on the territory of the Lviv region of Ukraine.
- Dodo. A large flightless bird from the pigeon family. She lived in the Mascarene Islands, the island of Mauritius and Rodrigues. The bird disappeared in the 16th century thanks to hunting, as well as cats and pigs brought to the islands, which destroyed its nests. The dodo, or dodo, is mentioned in Lewis Carroll's book and other works, and its image is the symbol of the Gerald Durrell Wildlife Conservation Fund.
- Steller's cow. The huge animal was discovered in 1741 during the expedition of Vitus Bering. Outwardly, it resembled a manatee and lived in the northern seas of the planet. Sea cow populations were very numerous, but immediately after the discovery, they began to be actively hunted because of the delicious cape and the large weight of animals. Already after 30-40 years the species was exterminated.
- Chinese lake dolphin. This species was declared extinct only in 2007. Its representatives lived in the area of the Yangtze River and lakes Poyanghu and Dongtinghu. These were typical representatives of river dolphins with an elongated, barrel-shaped body up to 2.5 meters long and a long narrow rostrum. Most of all, outwardly, they resembled the Amazonianline, which is listed as "vulnerable".
Endangered
Day by day the list of endangered animal species is increasing. The current rate of their disappearance is several times higher than during the period of global catastrophes that occurred on Earth millions of years ago. The status of "threatened" is usually received by those representatives of the fauna, the number of which is extremely small and can lead to the death of their kind in the near future. Today they include about 40% of all representatives of the animal kingdom - from large mammals to tiny invertebrates.
Top 10 endangered animal species in the world looks like this:
- California porpoise (30 individuals).
- Amur leopard (60 individuals).
- Javanese rhinoceros (68 individuals).
- Kakapo Owl Parrot (155 individuals).
- River gorilla (300 individuals).
- Malayan tiger (340 individuals).
- Northern right whale (350 individuals).
- Giant pandas (1864 individuals).
- Galapagos penguin (less than 2000 individuals).
- Sumatran elephant (2800 individuals).
Vulnerable or critically endangered also include koalas, jaguars, all kinds of rhinos and elephants, Sumatran orangutans, a variety of whales and dolphins, lemurs, some storks and pelicans, condors, various parrots and even pigeons.
Wakita, or California porpoise
Wakita is the smallest of the porpoises, which looks very much like a dolphin. Its elongated stocky body grows to only 1.5 meters in length and weighs about 50 kg. She ispainted in gray, and the eyes are circled in black circles. It is interesting that the California porpoise has never been an object of fishing - no one has conducted a special hunt for it. However, it tops the list of endangered animal species in the world.
How did it happen? The thing is that it has a very narrow range. The harbor porpoise is an endemic that lives only in the northern part of the Gulf of California. In addition, the animal often accidentally ends up in fishing nets, which put on another endangered endemic species of the bay - the totoaba fish.
Amur, or Far Eastern leopard
Amur subspecies is the northernmost representative of its species. Previously, the range of the animal was more extensive and covered the Ussuri region of Russia, northeast China and almost all of Korea. Today it has greatly narrowed down, being located on the border territories between these three states. It leads a solitary life, lives in mountainous areas covered mainly with mixed coniferous-deciduous forests.
Like other leopards, the Amur leopard looks very graceful. It grows up to 1-1.3 meters in length and weighs only 50 kilograms. The animal has a very long tail, a flexible and muscular body, powerful paws and sharp curved claws. When hunting, the leopard is able to jump several meters ahead and reach speeds of up to 58 kilometers per hour.
There are quite a few reasons for the extinction of a subspecies: the destruction of the natural habitat of animals, a decrease in the food supply, closely relatedcrossbreeding, which leads to the appearance of infertile individuals. An important, but far from the first factor is poaching, because the skin of a leopard costs from 500 to 1000 dollars. The conservation of the subspecies is carried out by employees of several wildlife sanctuaries and reserves. A significant role in this matter is given to zoos opened in various countries of the world.
Javanese Rhino
Another endangered species is the Javan rhinoceros. It lives in tropical forests, grasslands and floodplains of Southeast Asia. Leads a solitary lifestyle, occupying an individual territory from 3 to 20 km2. Javan rhinos are very similar to their Indian "brothers", but their head and body size is smaller, and only one horn grows on the head (everyone else has two) up to 27 centimeters long. The animals themselves reach approximately 2-4 meters in length and weigh up to 2.3 tons.
Of all representatives of the genus, Javan rhinos have the smallest number, which is due solely to the anthropogenic factor. These are very large and dangerous animals, and they have no natural enemies. The reduction in their number is influenced by the uncontrolled extermination of animals, as well as the active increase in human settlements in their habitat.
River Gorilla
The river gorilla is not a separate species, but a subspecies of the western gorilla. It lives in the broadleaf forests between Cameroon and Nigeria and is considered the most endangered of all African primates. Outwardly, it is very similar to a closely related subspecies of the western lowland gorillas,living 250 kilometers away. Among themselves, they differ in the structure of the teeth and skull, as well as in lifestyle features.
River gorillas number only a few hundred individuals. They are distributed in areas densely populated by people, and suffer from the fact that their natural habitats are being destroyed. The number of animals is declining due to deforestation and turning them into agricultural land.
Northern right whale
The northern right whale is one of the largest endangered animal species. It reaches 13 to 18 meters in length and can weigh about one hundred tons. Despite its impressive size, the animal turned out to be unarmed against humans. Since the 16th century, they have been hunted for meat, fat and whalebone. And the fact that the right whale lives close to the coast has made it pretty easy prey.
This species is common in the Atlantic Ocean. He does not live all the time in one place, but moves depending on the seasons. In summer, the whale rises to the subpolar regions, eating crustaceans and small fish off the coast of New England and Iceland. In winter, it descends to the shores of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and Southern Europe.
Galapagos Penguin
Most penguins live in the Antarctic and subantarctic belts of the globe. The Galapagos species is the only one that lives very close to the equator, on the islands of the same name. They settle in colonies right near the water, feed on fish and small crustaceans. These floating birdsreach only 50 centimeters in height and weigh about 2.5 kilograms. Their back and head are painted black, the abdomen, like other penguins, is white, and from the neck to the eyes there is a white stripe characteristic only for them.
Today, there are several thousand Galapagos penguins, and this number is constantly decreasing. Unlike many other endangered species of animals, the disappearance of this one has nothing to do with human activity. The reason for the death of penguins was a disastrous, but quite natural phenomenon called El Niño - a cataclysm that occurs off the coast of South America every few decades. Appearing in the 1990s near the Galapagos Islands, it affected climate change and reduced the number of fish - the main food of penguins.
Endangered animal species in Russia
Russia is the largest country in the world. It covers an area of 17,125,191 km2, stretching for 10 thousand kilometers from west to east of Eurasia. More than 120,000 species of animals inhabit its territory, which inhabit various climatic zones and natural zones, including the arctic desert, tundra, steppes, taiga, subtropical desert and semi-desert. Due to its great diversity, its nature is valuable not only for the country itself, but for the entire planet. Unfortunately, environmental problems are also observed here, due to which the list of rare and endangered species of animals is replenished.
The following are listed in the Red Book of Russia: a high-browed bottlenose dolphin, Przewalski's horse, bison, pink pelican, Caucasian mountain goat. Many of them live in the Far East or near its shores: the Amur tiger, the goiter antelope, the gray whale, the Amur steppe polecat, the Kamchatka beaver (sea otter), the red wolf, the Mednovsky arctic fox. The Amur gorals living in the Primorsky Territory, the sea lion seal found in Kamchatka, the Commander and Kuril Islands are disappearing. Among the endangered species of animals in Russia are the Far Eastern leopard, the Amur tiger, the Asian cheetah, each of which has only a couple of dozen individuals. The species that has completely disappeared on the territory of the state is considered to be the white-bellied, or monk seal, which inhabited the Black Sea.
Protection of rare and endangered species of animals
Representatives of the animal world are an important part of the nature of our planet, which are closely related to all its components. The disappearance of even one species affects the entire ecosystem and can lead to changes in the climate, landscape, fauna and flora of the area where it lived. Despite the long-standing human intervention in the environment, the problem of preserving endangered species of animals was only worried in the middle of the 16th century. Before that, they were destroyed without the slightest remorse, so there are many cases in history when thoughtless human actions led to irreparable consequences.
Measures to protect rare and endangered species of animals include the creation of special laws, environmental organizations, and their inclusion in the Red Books. As a rule, in order to preserve endangered species, the most favorable and safe conditions are created for them. For example, their natural habitats are being turned into sanctuaries, nature reserves andnational parks where hunting is prohibited and the animals are left to their own devices.
In some cases, people try to artificially increase the survival rate of endangered species of animals: they create temporary nurseries, protect young animals from their natural enemies, treat and feed weak and injured individuals. In Asia, for example, there are special centers where only hatched baby turtles are collected so that they are not eaten by seagulls and crabs. The cubs are raised to a certain age, and when they get stronger, they are released into the ocean.
