Essay on Endangered Species

Since earth was created, there has been a natural phenomenon of species across the globe appearing and disappearing. However, in the past century, many species of animals have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Mainly, this rapidly occurring issue is caused by humans. Humans that contribute to the harmful actions that cause side effects such a pollution, deforestation, habitat loss and poaching. The natural rate of extinction pales in comparison to the extinction rate caused by all of these. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the current rate of extinction is 11,000 times greater than the natural extinction rate. Several different efforts have been made in order to stop or slow down the extinction of earth’s species. The Endangered Species Act is possibly the most successful example of these efforts. It’s main purpose is to get a commitment from the American people that they will work hand in hand to help save species that are at risk of becoming extinct and never returning. This act was put in place in 1973 and since then, no other law about the disappearance of wildlife has been quite as accomplished. Many different species that are protected under this law are either fully recovered or on their way to becoming safer. Laws like these are helping many different creatures left and right, however, at the alarming rate that they are disappearing, something else needs to be done. What people don’t seem to realize is that we depend on many of the animals that we are

The bald eagle is the most well known endangered species because it is the nation's symbol. It is suppose to stand for freedom and the American way, but if we allow the bald eagle to become extinct how can we let something that doesn't exist anymore stand for freedom and the American way. Being the symbol of the nation, the bald eagle was put on the endangered species list faster than most species. When the bald eagle reached its low point in the 1960's (400 pairs), it was put on the endangered species list. The many federal acts or programs, the "Endangered Species Act" being the most effective, that were created for the bald eagle show how much the government cares about the symbol of our

A species that is introduced to an ecosystem by humans can harm ecosystems in many ways. Animals that are introduced into a new area, could hunt a main food source for some animals, causing that population to decrease. Plants could be poisonous, or need to feed off of other plants. Species introduced into an ecosystem by humans through off the natural balance of the wildlife.

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.

Extinction: Most species become extinct because they can’t cope with the environmental change, and also because of introduced species that turned into competitors for

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

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was created to protect individual plant and animal species as well as their ecosystems. The act creates two separate groups: the endangered species and the threatened species categories. Endangered species are species that are close to extinction and threatened species are those that have a potential to move onto the endangered list. The Endangered Species Act does not account for how quickly any species can become endangered or extinct if it is not placed on one of the lists and nothing is done to protect it. This is compounded by the assertion that lobbyists also have an undue influence on which species are put on or removed from the endangered

The main cause of endangerment is deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing of trees and transforming a forest into clear land. This leads to habitat loss. Although it is very harmful to many species, the government does not punish anyone for deforestation. Poaching is also a huge problem. Jaguars are being poached for their unique coats. Also, jaguars are being taken into public zoos which results in death. If the jaguar did ever go extinct, the domino effect could go into action and the same thing would happen to other

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.

First, diet, weather on purpose or not non indigenous species can harm the environment. When the Balsam Woolly Adelgids were accidentally imported from Europe to the United States, they fed, killing thousands of Balsam Fir trees. Leaving many once rich forests, dead. All of which could have been easily prevented with proper checks of the cargo and/or research done on what they would eat in the foreign land.

Since the beginning of life itself, some species have lived and prospered while other species have gone extinct never to be seen again by mankind. Because of this, some would claim that extinction is natural and not significantly problematic to the world that we live in. Others, however, understand that due to climate change, habitat loss, and poaching, more and more species are becoming endangered which leads to a chain reaction that can be devastating to ecosystems. Species such as the Chinook salmon, gorillas, tropical sharks, and polar bears are all directly affected by climate change, species such as northern spotted owls, Sumatran tigers, and lemurs are greatly harmed due to habitat loss, and species such as the sea turtle, Javan rhinoceros, African elephant, and the Red-Fronted Macaw are all affected by poaching driving them all closer and closer to becoming 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.

Habitat destruction, deforestation, ozone depletion, global warming, and poaching. These actions and ecological happenings are creating a world where animals are going extinct at rapid rates. Our world is on the brink of what scientists believe is the sixth mass extinction. Unlike the five previous mass extinction, the latest one killing a majority of the dinosaurs, the main causes for this current extinction are anthropogenic reasons, not natural events.