Deforestation & Habitat Loss

So, you may be thinking, if the Amazon Rainforest is a huge, amazing place where millions of animals and plants live, then why is it threatened? Well, the reason for that is the same reason that 17% of the Amazon has been lost in the last 50 years: Deforestation (Worldwide.org). According to scientificamerican.com, “...we are losing upwards of 80,000 acres of Tropical Rainforest daily…” That could be up to 80 million trees a day! Deforestation is mainly caused by needed space for cattle ranching (raising cows for meat). The reason that deforestation is so bad for the environment is that the trees in the Amazon bring in CO2 (carbon dioxide), and give out oxygen. Some people call the Amazon the “Lungs of the Planet” because they filter so much air. If the Amazon Rainforest disappeared, here’s some of the things that would happen: Millions of species would go extinct (including Jaguars), the Earth would lose most of its oxygen, and it would make global warming MUCH worse (britannica.com). Truthfully, if the Amazon disappears, we humans might too.

Okay, but why are Jaguars disappearing?

In the wild, there are still about 15,000 Jaguars left (theatlantic.com). That seems like a big number. So why is it so bad? Well, 15,000 may seem like a lot, but it really isn’t. Jaguars are only found in the Amazon Rainforest, so while deforestation might not seem like a big deal, it is really causing habitat loss problems for over 1,400 of the 15,000 Jaguars left. Like I already mentioned, Jaguars are at the top of their food chain, which makes it important that they don’t go extinct. Why? Well, if there are no more Jaguars, then there will be nothing to eat secondary consumers, and so they will grow in population. Soon enough there will be so many secondary consumers that they will be fighting for resources, and dying because of it. The other big problem that is making Jaguars endangered is poachers, hunters, and human conflict. According to sciencetimes.com, “Jaguar poaching has become popular for a lot of reasons. Some are after the animal's skins, which could be sold as rugs. Others capture them for meat, which is sometimes sold in restaurants as an off-menu delicacy.” Human conflict mostly means when people think they or their crops are in danger, they will kill a Jaguar.