The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years . Creatures across the land, rivers, and the seas are destroyed as humans killed them for food in unsuitable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats.
The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About
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
The ecological conditions might have changed quickly and the species was not able to adapt to those conditions, which eventually lead the species to go extinct.
One cause why some animals are going extinct is because of hunting. The animal(s) kills other animals and people then kill that animal(s). According to U.S Department of Agriculture it mentions that, “In 2010 wolves killed 570 adult cows and 1,990 calves (baby cows) in Idaho. Montana had 440 adult cows die and 852 calves. Finally, then Wyoming with 74 adult cows and 511 calved dead from wolves.” There are more wolves in Idaho then Wyoming and Montana which also means that more
There are several hypotheses that are used to explain the causes of mass extinctions. Climate change, the warming or cooling of global environments over a short period of time, can lead to other occurrences. Shifts in climate can cause extinction by
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.
Animal extinction is big a threat to some animal species. According to the text “ The Impact of Animal Protection”, many nature parks have supervised breeding programs that allow numbers to increase. Many people think that animals should be able to repopulate by themselves. Keeping animals protected has proven to be beneficial and increase the populations of endangered animals. According to the text “The Impact of Animal Protection” these programs have helped bring several animals - black footed
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
Mammals, just like every other living organism on planet earth, are given the opportunity to live. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Many individuals believe that animal extinction is caused due to climate change or various other environmental issues. On the other hand, several others suppose that animal hunting, also known as "overkill," is the cause of animal extinction. But what exactly is the cause of animal extinction, overkill or climate change?
“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.
The sheer number of animals outway the number of people, yet so many animals are becoming extinct every day one by one they are disappearing. The Red List is one of the more infamous websites, has over 7600 animals on record. To understand these matters researchers go deep into examination looking into the causes and effects
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.
It’s clear that a great extinction is coming from the evidence of the destruction of other species around us. The choices made by the human race have too often negatively affected the surrounding species. Tracy Wilson, the site director for HowStuffWorks.com, in an article for Animal Planet, states that
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.