Endangered Animals

Hawksbill Turtles

Isabella Solis

Hawksbill turtles play a crucial role in the function of marine ecosystems. Hawksbills face the threat of being hunted for their beautiful shell, used by crafters to create many types of jewelry. The hunting and killing of hawksbills for their shell almost drove the species to extinction. They stabilize the sea bottom and help maintain water quality. Hawksbill sea turtles like to dine on marine sponges and soft reef invertebrates. They use their beak-like mouths to extract their food from coral reefs and services. The extinction of these sea creatures could lead to coral extinction (from sponges overtaking them,) lack of food for small fish, and a massive imbalance in the food web! A threat to sea turtles is their capture in fishing gear which can result in injuries that lead to death. The intentional killing of hawksbills for the harvest of their eggs, meat, and shells is still widespread. A significant threat to the turtles is the loss of habitat and coral reefs due to coastal development, climate change, and pollution. In addition, changes to coral communities due to land-based runoff and coral bleaching events can negatively impact habitat and prey organisms. Global climate change is damaging coral reefs by causing coral diseases, which can kill coral reef communities. The turtles rely on coral reefs for food doubling up as a habitat. So I know what you’re thinking, “How do we save them?” By protecting the hatching area of baby turtles so predators cannot consume eggs or baby turtles walking to the ocean, using natural light walking on beaches, as artificial light such as flashlights can detour baby turtles from going to sea, Humans should avoid the migration routes of these turtles if possible, so turtles don’t become exposed to human dangers, cut open the plastic that carries coca-cola, as these openings often get lodged around the outside of a turtle's neck, or get caught on their legs. Another big problem that puts these turtles in danger is fishing and human contact.


https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/hawksbill-turtle

Hawksbill Sea Turtle. US Fish and Wildlife Service.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mathiasappel Baby Red Panda on branch. Mathias Appel

Red Pandas

Arun Keshavan

The case for red pandas is complicated, “Ailurus fulgens” (scientific name for red panda) is a species of mammals. They are listed as endangered by IUCN and in cities. They are native to Asia. They are solitary, nocturnal omnivores. Red pandas are known to live for 168 months and can grow to 582.32 mm. They have parental care (female pandas provide care). They rely on arboreal (lives in trees) and running to move around. According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are less than 10,000 red pandas left in the world. To put that number into perspective, keep in mind that red pandas are only two-feet long. Now I know what you're thinking, why should I care about them, they don't help us, right? Well, you're wrong. According to omniverse.com , “Red Pandas play an important role in the ecosystem because they contribute to clean air and water for 500 million people.” This is because they help sustain a healthy forest. So it would be a great loss if they became extinct. To the people, they are the lungs of central china. Snow leopards and martens are the only real predators of the red panda along with birds of prey and small carnivores that prey on the smaller and more vulnerable cubs. The biggest threat to the red panda however is people who have affected this species mainly through deforestation of their incredibly unique habitats. Another negative effect is that the soil in the ecosystem that the red pandas are part of won't be as rich in nutrients because the red panda takes in only ¼ of the nutrients in a bamboo due to their weak digestive system. If we protect the red panda habitat and help to mitigate deforestation we are providing our planet with the many benefits of trees including cleaner air, cleaner oceans, and reduced runoff.


How do red pandas affect the ecosystem?

The Consequences of Endangering Animals

Cesar Lopez

Since the industrial revolution, mankind has seen fit to carve out the land of Earth as it saw fit to benefit its ever-growing industry in the name of progress. While this comes with plenty of benefits for the human world, the animal world has suffered immensely. Animals have been forced out of their homes across all biomes, with rising oceans, chopped trees, paved grass, and an endless supply of polluted air covering the world. While we may like to think that the effects on us when it comes to dying animals are minimal, this could not be further from the truth. There are many species that, due to their extinction or endangerment from human intervention, the ecosystem and humanity itself have suffered. Don’t believe me? Humanity has done plenty of damage to the ecosystems of the world that, due to its ignorance, has resulted in costs ranging from something as simple as farm crops, to park destruction, to full-blown human deaths.

Starting off (one Americans are very familiar with): the extinction of the Yellowstone wolves. In 1872, following Yellowstone’s inception with the Yellowstone National Park act, the wolves were seen as a bit of nuisance: “At the time, the wolves’ habit of killing prey species was considered “wanton destruction” of the animals. Between 1914 and 1926, at least 136 wolves were killed in the park; by the 1940s, wolf packs were rarely reported. By the mid-1900s, wolves had been almost entirely eliminated from the 48 states.” Since the wolves were causing “damage” to the elk and deer populations, the American people went on a campaign to remove the wolves from existence to protect the native populations. However, it was very clear that in these years, nobody really understood ecology all that well, or no one was loud enough to stop the extermination. Very quickly, the effects began to take hold: “After the wolves were gone, the bears and coyotes that were left weren’t able to kill as many elk as the wolves had done. Soon, the elk population skyrocketed, and they devastated the ecosystem by eating too much young, tender willow and aspen trees. Once those trees were gone, a whole host of other animals left: birds, beaver, and fish that lived in the beaver ponds. The beaver dams broke and allowed water to flow through too fast to soak up in the surrounding landscape. The land converted to grasslands and dry shrub-lands. Compared to its former glory, it was now a barren wasteland.” Due to that utter lack of understanding of ecology, the wolves were subsequently removed to make way for the elk population. What nobody realized was that the elks like to chew on trees, and as the elk population soared due to the lack of a predator, the beavers suddenly had no wood to dam the rivers with, which then led to the decline of this great national park. Because of the endangerment of an animal, a beautiful national park was turned into a “barren wasteland.”

Now, you might not really care all that much about some random park being tossed into disarray. What’s that got to do with you in your modern life? Well, you might want to ask that question to Australian farmers. Once upon a time in the west, there was an animal. That animal was known as the Emu. As the Emu population grew and grew and the Emus migrated towards more fertile lands, they decided to begin barging into fenced crops and consuming whatever they wanted before sprinting at 30 mph off into the sunset. Due to the big ol’ in the fences, the rabbit population would soon come in afterwards and clean up the ENTIRE crop, leaving farmers with nothing. In the middle of a recession. The response at first, came from the military, of all places, who sent in a trio of men with 10,000 rounds for 2 Lewis machine guns. This… didn’t really work. They tried again. Worked better, but not completely. Eventually, they gave up and just let the farmers have at it, and the fences and ready supply of ammo solved the problem. However, why on earth did we have to send in a small military squad, set up miles upon miles of fencing, and then regularly kill emus for such a long time? Well, the Emu doesn’t really have any predators. Not anymore, anyway. The Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, was once a predator of such a creature: “Thylacines preferred kangaroos and other marsupials, small rodents and birds. They were reported to have preyed on sheep and poultry after European colonization,” This included the now dreaded Emu. But what happened? Why did a necessary predator for Emu kind disappear suddenly? “They were reported to have prayed on sheep and poultry after European colonization,” Prayed on sheep and poultry after European colonization. Europeans who didn’t really have a great sense of how ecosystems worked. Europeans who might get so upset about their dead sheep and chicken that they might hunt a species of tigers. To extinction. Humanity, at that moment, shot itself in the foot by removing one of the few predators of the Emu population, and thus, directly contributed to their own farming problems.

Alright, the lot of Australian farmers losing their livelihood. That might not still be enough to convince you. Fine. Now, it is time for THE most egregious example of this kind of activity. In 1958, Under Mao, China was to undergo a massive cultural revolution to modernize and become a self-sufficient, thriving nation. So far, pretty normal. So, as part of these reforms, Chairman Mao ordered the beginning of the Four Pests Campaign. This orders citizens to murder every single mosquito, rodent, fly, and sparrow they can find, in an effort to boost hygiene from the first 3, and to prevent the sparrows from hogging the grain that was being shorted from the people over the years. The campaign’s goals were met with flying colors: “Estimates suggest that the government and the public were responsible for the deaths of 1.5 billion rats, 1 billion sparrows, over 220 million pounds of flies, and over 24 million pounds of mosquitoes.” Impressive. Truly impressive. Now, according to the CCP, this should boost hygiene and increase grain yield.

Well… it DID boost hygiene. Now, about that crop yield.

“In 1959, researchers at China’s Academy of Sciences performed autopsies on several of the dead sparrows. They discovered that the majority of their stomach contents was made up of insects and not grains, as was previously believed.” Insects that literally eat the very crops that they were trying to protect by doing this. Now, you’ve heard of a national park being ruined. You’ve heard of Australian farmers losing money over lost crops. Now get ready for…

15-36 MILLION INDIVIDUALS DYING DUE TO ONE OF THE GREATEST BIOLOGICAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN HISTORY.

Now, thankfully, after realizing what they had done, the government rapidly imported some new sparrows from Russia, and the situation today is stable. However, this kind of animal endangerment is on a whole new level. Due to the direct and purposeful destruction of a species, millions of people died of starvation because of the disruption to the ecosystem. If you still don’t see the value in preserving the balance of ecosystems, then nothing will change your mind.

So, thanks to human meddling in ecological affairs, we have seen a park ruined, farms ruined, and many, many, many lives ruined. Ecological balance is something that no matter how much we industrialize, we will still suffer grave consequences for endangering or exterminating a species. Today, there are many animals that have reached the brink of extinction and are on what can only be described as population life support. Without these animals, however, the ecosystems they inhabit have a very real chance of causing a catastrophe from occurring in our own industrial bubble. If not for animals, do it for yourself, lest humanity suffers yet another problem in a long line of ecological destruction.

Sources:


News, Opening Hours 10am-5pmFree General EntryClosed Christmas Day Address 1. William StreetSydney NSW 2010 Australia Phone +61 2. 9320 6000 www australian museum Copyright ©. 2022 The Australian Museum ABN 85 407 224 698 View Museum. “Thylacine.” The Australian Museum, https://australian.museum/learn/australia-over-time/extinct-animals/the-thylacine/australian.museum/learn/australia-over-time/extinct-animals/the-thylacine/. Accessed 28 Jan. 2022.

“The Four Pests Campaign: Objectives, Execution, Failure, And Consequences.” WorldAtlas, 25 Apr. 2017, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-four-pests-campaign-objectives-execution-failure-and-consequences.html.

Park, Mailing Address: PO Box 168 Yellowstone National, and WY 82190-0168 Phone: 307-344-7381 Contact Us. Wolf Restoration - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service). https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolf-restoration.htm. Accessed 28 Jan. 2022.

VanSomeren, Lindsay. “Did Yellowstone Wolves Really Save the Park’s Ecosystem?” Untamedscience.Com, Untamed Science, Aug. 2016,