Endangered Species Essay

Many species vital to ensuring that today’s environment will thrive are becoming extinct. If a species is slowly dwindling, and in imminent danger of becoming nonexistent, this species is considered to be endangered. “One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the world’s assessed plants on the… IUCN Red List are in jeopardy” (IUCN, 2016). According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, upwards of 16,000 species are threatened with extinction, including both plants and animals (IUCN, 2016). Before becoming endangered, a species will show warning signs, either by starting to lose biological diversity or by losing the habitats for that species to flourish in, or in the worst case, both. The word endangered can sometimes be confused with threatened, extirpated, or extinct. Extirpated refers to the state of a species where its population has died out in a certain area or range, but other populations of said species still exist elsewhere (Olden, Julian D., 2008). When a species is considered threatened, or vulnerable, this refers to the state of the species being susceptible to endangerment and extinction (“Extinction crisis escalates”). So if a species is threatened, the first signs of endangerment come along, which are similar signs to that of a species in danger of becoming threatened, including lack of genetic diversity, or overhunting may be evident. (“Extinction crisis escalates”). When a species is labelled

An endangered species is a plant or an animal at risk of becoming extinct. Scientists have estimated that up to one-third of species in the U.S. are at a high risk of extinction. In addition to donating millions of acres of land, this is essential to the recovery and survival of the endangered; the Act has shown a ninety percent recovery rate for species in the U.S. The main causes of endangerment include loss of habitat, excessive hunting, and pollution.

To put this on equal terms, think one day you and your family are taking a leisurely stroll down the park. While walking down the spark another person randomly tries to kill you. But, no one but your mom is wounded with a poisoned wound without an antidote. Frighten you would not be able to know or think straight with the sight of someone dear to you dying right in front of your eyes. Now if you would please take that picture and put it in terms of an animal being hunted by another species far more advanced, without a way to protect themselves. Is it really morally right to kill another living thing for sport? Especially when the animal involved is on the endangered species list, to be fair, it is on the endangered species list for a reason because it is on the verge of becoming extinct. So let me ask you again why should anybody think it's more to hunt and kill animals that are endangered or simply in our backyards. it is morally wrong to continue trophy hunting as a Leisure activity when endangered animals are

Bandit was a hybrid half wolf and half dog, he was used for entertainment at a golf course and was abused by an angry man because Bandit tried stealing one of the mans golf balls. The man beat him with his golf club and Bandit suffered from a broken shoulder and now is scared of people. We should be able to own exotic animals for endangered reasons. If an exotic animal is kept in captivity they can be breed and make the population bigger. Exotic animals are also so great for people who have allergies, we can build special bonds with these animals

Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must

The National Wildlife Institute has published “Conservation Under the Endangered Species Act: A Promise Broken”. Their critique of the Act includes questioning the programs undertaken as a result of the Act have played sufficient roles in the recovery of species that were delisted, as well as questioning the allocation of funding to programs intended to aid listed species.

It is kind of ironic that in the picture above some low brow European wanted and bought an illegally poached Hippo tooth that has a sculpture of other endangered animals who are on the path to extinction because the buyer thought these animals are majestic and beautiful. So I assume he thought "What the hell lets kill one so I can show the world how much I love

A report from Recovering America’s Wildlife Crisis states, “More than 150 species have already gone extinct and about 40% of freshwater fish species are imperiled.” Animals are being killed off by the minute. Now the wildlife species are going to abolished from Earth.

A few of these remaining species are extremely close to extinction and if we don’t do something soon we may very well lose them good. They’re becoming extinct from the destruction of their natural habitat.

In a summary, Kolbert explains the extinctions of a variety of different major animal species that became extinct. She also explains that if trends in the environment continue that the biggest extinction in history will occur soon. If global warming, deforestation, and glaciers continue to melt she says that more and more species will continue to become extinct. She explains how humans need to be more conservative and careful with what they’re doing to prevent extinction.

A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment relative to its abundance. Such an organism plays a role in its ecosystem that is analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch. While the keystone feels the least pressure of any of the stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it. Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if a keystone species is removed, even though that species was a small part of the ecosystem by measures of biomass or productivity. It has become a very popular concept in conservation biology.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted in 1973 to show that species have “ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value”. This congressional enactment wanted to protect endangered species from the effects of major economic development which typically put them to the wayside. However, the good intentions of the ESA were, it caused a plethora of controversy that still makes it a heated topic today. The main reason of the controversy trickles down from the economic aspects of the act that tend to be overlooked which causes it to be hard to enact in certain circumstances. To make the ESA more effective for both humans and the endangered species the economic implications of protecting these species must be addressed. The three major factors that influence this are economic circumstances of an area, scarcity, and incentives.

“Extinction means having no living representatives, having died out” (Dictionary.Com). We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago” (Center for Biological Diversity). Among all the species, there are still animals that have a hope of living the next generation. Despite being threatened they are not endangered. The orca whale, commonly known as the killer whale is a prime example. To date approximately 50,000 orca populations thrive though out the world. Previously the world wide estimate was double that, at 100,000 (Kirby). It has been found in resent studies that the orca population is decreasing due to many hardships they face such as toxins, captivity, and depletion of food.

Bill Freedmen, author of “Endangered Species—Human Causes Of Extinction and Endangerment” notes, “scientists approximate that present extinction rates are 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the average natural extinction rate.” These distressing numbers should be acted upon to save the endangered species and avoid the catastrophic change to this planet if these species were to become extinct. In order to produce change, people need to recognize that habitat loss, climate change, and poaching are all factors in why our animal species are going extinct.

There are 6.5 million species of land mammals. Wildlife biologists get the privilege of studying and spending time with these animals as their everyday life. I should be a wildlife biologist so I can study land mammals.