Extinction of rare animal species. Evolution and endangered animals: why extinction occurs
The natural extinction rate (or background rate) shows how quickly plants, mammals, birds and insects would die out if there were no people around. Scientists state that today these species are disappearing almost 1000 times faster than the natural rate, meaning we are losing about 150-200 species every day. About 15% of mammal species and 11% of bird species are listed as threatened.
Mainly due to the successful operation of a pilot project in the former military area of Milovice, which provided care for landscaped bison, wild horses and bison back breeding, but foreign experience gradually came into force in the Czech Republic. The company Czech Landscape, in collaboration with experts from the Center for Biology of the Academy of Sciences, is currently preparing several more locations in South Moravia, Central Bohemia, Liberec and the Karlovy Vary Region and the Highlands.
A similar impact on forests is also non-interval mode
While tactical deprivation of open landscape diversity is relatively well known, there is much less recognition that similar impacts occur on forests. Free-range forests, with the exception of mountain forests, are dense, their species composition is changing, old trees are dying, and their biodiversity is slowly declining. The problem has attracted attention in last years due to natural processes in forests were slower than in treeless habitats, said Lukas Sajsk from the biology center of the Academy of Sciences in Czech Budejovice.
Bengal tiger
Threat: Poaching for skin and other body parts is the most serious threat. Habitat loss due to human settlement and potential climate change due to rising sea levels are also threatening factors.
Species Information: Population size is less than 2,500 tigers with a declining trend.
The reasons are the same as steppes and meadows. Forests also lack the effects of major greening events, e.g. elements and large ungulates. European wildlife has always included forests and treeless ones, with no elements or large ungulates recognizing their boundaries. If we are serious about nature conservation, we must begin to understand forests and woodlands as integral, inseparable and intertwined parts of the same system, added Miloslav Irk.
According to him, effective and affordable protection of biodiversity without large areas, left to spontaneous development, will not be good. The key to success, however, is what Miloslav Irk sees in the correct distribution of amateur landscapes. The first step to success is to artificially separate forest and adjacent forests and ensure the same landscape phenomena in both of them. If managed stocks are large enough, then artificially separated forests and woodlands will begin to intersect without extinction, natural transitions will occur between completely in different places a habitat.
Natural Habitat: Mangrove forests of Bangladesh, various national parks and forested areas in India and Nepal, and subtropical foothills of the Himalayas in Bhutan.
Orangutan
Status: endangered (Borneo), in critical condition(Sumatra)
Biodiversity will take care of itself, just as before the arrival of man, concluded Miloslav Irk. European conservation should be followed by a global trend in which conservation organizations return large ungulates as an integral part of ecosystems to the wild, where possible. IN North America From Canada to Mexico, the return of bison, for example in Asia, and Indian rhinoceros Przewalski's horse in African stocks often removed several large ungulate species simultaneously.
The public can also help
Conservation organizations on projects related to the return and protection of large ungulates collaborate with experts from the biology center of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the University of South Bohemia in Czech Budejovice, Charles University in Prague, the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Academy of Sciences Czech Republic, Czech Agricultural University in Prague, Mendel University Brno, Masaryk University in Brno and other professional institutions.
Threat: The main challenges for both species are habitat loss due to over-cutting of trees and habitat modification for agriculture and habitat fragmentation due to road construction. Fires have played a large role in the decline of Borneo's orangutan population. Hunting and trade in animals is also a threat to the species.
Other donation options include a donor portal. Completing the analysis. It's paradoxical that only polar bear tells the truth to some amateur zoologists that we don't need to worry about species becoming extinct because new species are emerging at the same time.
In Alaska polar bear, driven out of his natural environment, began to cross there with grizzlies. But supporters of classical natural science deny that this the new kind animals. Last year, US President George W. Bush, known for his warm relationship with global warming, also took up the fight to save the bear.
Species information: Over the past 75 years, the Sumatra orangutan population is estimated to have declined by more than 80% and continues to decline. Most animals live outside protected areas. Over 60 years, Borneo's orangutan population has declined by more than 50% and is expected to continue to decline.
Habitat: Sumatra orangutans are located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, most of lives in Aceh province. Borneo orangutans are found throughout the island of Borneo, mainly in Sarawak, Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia.
The extinction of animal and bird species is mainly due to violent environmental changes caused by humans, and only partially due to hunting and direct killing of animals. The exception is, for example, the African elephant, hippopotamus and a number of antelopes, which free poachers.
The hippopotamus, which hunts for meat and teeth, was the first to be included in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and natural resources. The ivory trade has been re-allowed, although to a limited extent, and its proceeds are earmarked to fund conservation programs.
Polar bear
Status: in danger zone
Threat: due to global climate change, the volume is rapidly decreasing sea ice. This means loss of habitat for polar bears, whose survival depends on the presence of ice. Over 45 years (three generations), the population has decreased by more than 30%. According to some estimates, polar bears will disappear within 100 years. In addition to melting sea ice, there are other factors affecting the population, such as "overpopulation" in Canada and Greenland, poaching in Russia, and pollution (bears are at the top of the food chain, so the effect of pollution is on every link and on them). Oil production in the Arctic is also a serious problem, as it poses the threat of oil spills and increased levels of bear-human contact.
During the 1970s and 1980s, as a result of the ban on the ivory trade at the time, Kalashnikov poachers armed half of the elephants. Elephants once inhabited the entire African continent, from Mediterranean Sea to the cape Good Hope. Hunters and poachers are also responsible for three subspecies of the world's largest cat, the tiger.
Over the past century, Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers gradually disappeared. In Manduja and Korea live the last two or three hundred of the Ussuri tsar, and the most numerous subspecies of the Bengal tiger now have a population of between two and four thousand.
Habitat: Circumpolar Arctic (as far south as sea ice extends), Svalbard Archipelago in Norway and Churchill, Manitoba in Canada.
Western gorilla
Status: in critical zone
Threat: high level hunting and poaching, and diseases such as Ebola.
There is a Mediterranean seal that lives on south coast Turkey, as well as a giant panda preserved in thousands of pieces in the Chinese province of Szechuan. And also one of the last "living fossils", a New Zealand food, reptile that lived on the globe for the jury.
Thousands of species could become extinct within 10 years
More than 16 thousand names are listed as threatened species on the Red List. These people have a fifty percent chance of extinction within ten years or within the next three generations. These include one quarter coniferous trees, one-eighth of birds, one-third of amphibians, and one-quarter of mammals described worldwide. Overall, it is estimated that there are currently between ten and thirty million species of plants and animals, mainly arthropods, around the globe.
Species information: The western gorilla population, which includes the western lowland gorillas (pictured above), is estimated to decline by 80% within three generations (about 66 years) to 2,046 gorillas.
Habitat: The eastern (mountain) gorilla, found in Rwanda, Uganda and Eastern Congo, is critically endangered. The western gorilla can still be found in Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), mainland Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni), Gabon, Nigeria, Republic of Congo and Cabinda (Angola).
To date, natural scientists have described two million people. The sharp loss of biodiversity cannot hinder the conservation of nature and the ecologists themselves. Reversing this trend requires the synergy of all components of society. And, above all, relevant political decisions on a global scale.
Meanwhile, the world's population behaves more than masis towards its flora and fauna. “The gradual extinction of animal and plant species will not change unless the problem is seriously addressed by governments individual countries", emphasizes Dr. Susan Liebermann of the World Wildlife Fund, based in Gladstone, Switzerland.
Humpback whale
Status: endangered
Threat: The number of humpback whales has increased since the hunting moratorium, but there remains a constant threat from noise pollution, entanglement fishing gear and collisions with ships. Within established quotas, they continue to be targets for the whaling industry.
Greek tortoise is cheap. Spider for 50 zł free flying birds. Camelon - you're not going anywhere else! Tiger tiger with papers as real. Boa Breeding Birth Certificate - Bargain! The Internet is full of these types of deals, and their number is growing rapidly. This is only a modest reflection of the process that takes place in particular. in pet stores and stock exchanges. With the widespread craze for keeping exotic animals at home, the illegal trade in endangered species is on the rise.
How not to fall into the trap and realize your interests without conflicting with the law? There is no way to discuss all the current rules in a short article. So let's focus on one problem - selling and buying. Some of the Commission's regulations modify these lists.
Species information: In 1966, a moratorium on the hunting of humpback whales was introduced after they were classified as endangered, about 90% of the population was destroyed.
Habitat: off the coast of Canada, USA, South America, Australia and New Zealand, whale watching is a popular activity. During the summer, humpback whales spend time in the polar regions, where they feed and then return to warmer waters to breed. They typically migrate 25,000 km.
In addition, for specimens belonging to Appendix A and B species, the seller was under an obligation to ensure that the buyer was adequately informed of the premises, equipment and practical measures necessary to ensure proper care of the animal. This means that if the seller does not know the recipient and has no knowledge of his knowledge in this regard, he must provide him with such information. In addition, Polish legislation has introduced the obligation to register living amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals from all Applications in Old Age, and at the time of registration documents must be presented confirming their legal origin.
Sifaka
Status: critically endangered
Threat: Habitat loss due to logging (some of it illegal), arson and hunting are the main threats.
Species Information: The sifaka is a species of the lemur family. The silky sifaka is endangered; as of 2008, there were approximately 250 adults of the species. Perrier's sifaka is also endangered.
What types are limited?
It should be kept in mind that these rules apply not only to living and dead specimens and to any derivative products containing parts of plants or animals of these species. Unfortunately, the length of the list of protected species reflects the threat to nature from human greed. It is impossible to list all taxa here. However, it is important to know which groups of species we should be especially careful about and whether these rules are important. Applications are, for example, everything. They include almost all of them: cats, parrots, birds of prey, cones and chameleons.
Habitat: The sifaka, like all lemurs, exists only in Madagascar.
African lion
Status: vulnerable
Threat: One of the main threats to lions today is retaliatory/deliberate killing to protect human lives and livestock (a common practice is luring lions with poisoned carcasses). Habitat loss, trophy hunting and disease are also threats.
How to legally buy or sell a pet?
There are also many species of freshwater turtles, snakes and singing birds. If we buy captive animal A, we must obtain a special EU certificate from the seller to exempt the sample from the trade ban. In the case of applications C and - this is not a crime, but we will not be able to register such animals with old age, which will constitute an offense or a misdemeanor fine. Similar rules apply if you want to sell our animal or its offspring someday. For each instance, you need to attach the relevant documents and then delete them when you are old.
Species Information: There has been a population decline of 30% over the past 20 years (three generations).
Habitat: Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
North American grizzly bear
Status: Endangered in the US; special danger in Canada; became extinct in Mexico.
What documents prove the legal origin of an animal? First of all, it is worth noting that they are not: invoices, invoices, breeder's or seller's statements, certificates of registration with the registry chief or "normal" veterinarian certificates of captive births. They are also not photocopies of other documents if they do not meet the conditions specified in Art. Article 64 9 of the Law on Nature Conservation. Most buyers will encounter two types of documents.
In the case of Annex A animals, the Ministry of the Environment issues a trade certificate in accordance with these requirements. Unfortunately, in Poland we are dealing with a lack of documents. This is not to say that in the case of animals from EU applications they are not needed.
Threat: human settlement and conflicts with humans. Today, bears are endangered in British Columbia's Jumbo Valley due to plans to develop a large ski resort. This region is one of the most important wildlife corridors in North America through which grizzly bears come and go from the Purcell Wildlife Refuge, an area free of human influence.
Species Information: After the Yellowstone grizzlies disappeared in 2007 - due to the "effective removal of endangered grizzly bear protections in the Yellowstone area national park"- the federal government sued to have the bear relisted. Grizzlies were added to the list in 2009.
Habitat: Grizzly bears in North America exist primarily in Alaska, Western Canada, and the northwestern United States.
Giant Galapagos tortoise
Status: vulnerable
Threat: Until recently, the main threat was commercial hunting for museum collections. Today, the biggest threat is predators such as "wild pigs, dogs, cats and black rats." Donkeys, goats and cattle compete with turtles for grazing areas.
Information about the species: In the 19th century, the species' numbers decreased significantly due to the fact that passing ships caught turtles. Between 1811 and 1824, records show that 15,000 turtles were caught by 105 whaling ships. One of the subspecies giant turtle Pinta Island is believed to be extinct after the last of the species, Lonesome George, died in captivity earlier this year.
Habitat: Ten of the 15 subspecies exist on the seven Galapagos Islands.
Chimpanzee
Status: endangered
Threat: Chimpanzee decline is due to habitat destruction and modification (farming and logging), poaching (for meat, animal trade, and crop protection) and disease (they are susceptible to human diseases, and as human populations increase, so do numbers human-chimpanzee contacts).
Species Information: The reason for the endangered status of the chimpanzee is the rapid decline in numbers over the past 20-30 years, which will continue for the next 30-40 years.
Habitat: Chimpanzees live "from southern Senegal through the forested north of the Congo River to western Uganda and western Tanzania, from sea level to altitudes of 2800 m."
Rothschild's giraffe
Status: endangered
Threat: development Agriculture became the main reason for the decline in the species' numbers.
Species Information: The Rothschild's giraffe - or Baringo, or Uganda giraffe - is the second most endangered species, along with the West African giraffe. As of 2010, fewer than 670 individuals remained in the wild.
Habitat: The remaining population lives in protected areas in Uganda and Kenya. Captive breeding programs such as the Giraffe Center in Nairobi are looking to increase these numbers.
Hippopotamus
Status: vulnerable
Threat: The main reasons for the decline are exploitation and habitat loss; there is no evidence that these threats will be mitigated in the near future.
Species information: Over the past ten years, the hippopotamus population is estimated to have declined by 7-20%, with an overall decline of 30% predicted over the next 30 years (three generations).
The pygmy hippopotamus, found in West Africa (Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia) is critically endangered.
Habitat: rivers, lakes and swamps south of the Sahara.
African elephant
Status: vulnerable
Threat: elephant poaching for ivory is unfortunately not new problem. Earlier this year, the New York Times published an article in which Congolese authorities suspected the Ugandan military of using helicopters to slaughter animals. Historically, armed groups have killed elephants for the purpose of selling ivory to buy weapons and support their causes.
Information about the species: despite poaching, status African elephant has been upgraded from endangered to vulnerable. While some regional populations are in decline, most are growing at 4% per year. It is believed that the overall effect will be an increase in population. Elephants became regionally extinct in Burundi, Gambia, Mauritania and Swaziland, although they were reintroduced to Swaziland throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Habitat: They can be found in 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Grevy's zebra
Status: endangered
Threat: The main threats to Grevy's zebra are reduction in available water sources; habitat changes and loss due to increased pastures; competition for resources; diseases.
Species information: The population of Grévy's zebras is thought to have declined by 50% over the last two decades. The species "has undergone one of the most dramatic range reductions of any African mammal."
Habitat: Grevy's zebra can be found in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Cheetah
Status: vulnerable
Threat: habitat loss and fragmentation; clashes with farmers (cheetahs that prey on livestock are considered "pests"); poaching.
Species Information: Current population ranges from 7,500 to 10,000 individuals. Based on 1970 estimates of 15,000 individuals, the population has declined by at least 30% over the past two decades.
Habitat: The vast majority of the remaining population is found in the Southern and East Africa. The Asiatic cheetah is found in Iran.
African wild dog
Status: endangered
Threat: Declines are primarily due to human dispersal, habitat loss, and control of predator kills.
Species information: African wild dogs, which hunt in packs, are very efficient hunters with kill rates of around 80%, compared to 30% for lions and, surprisingly, less than 2% for polar bears. From numbers of over 500,000 in over 39 countries, their populations have declined to numbers between 3,000 and 5,500 in 14 countries.
Habitat: eastern and southern Africa: two large groups in Tanzania (Selous Game Reserve) and northern Botswana/eastern Namibia.
Sloth
Status: from “causes concern” to “critical threat”
Threat: Various species of sloths suffer from habitat loss due to deforestation, hunting/poaching, and illegal animal trade.
Species Information: Critically endangered three-toed sloths are the smallest of all sloths and live on desert island off the coast of Panama. The three-toed maned sloth is classified as a species of concern and is showing population decline.
Habitat: Sloths live in trees in the jungles of Central and South America.
Rhinoceros
Status: from “endangered” to “critical threat”
Threat: The main threat to all subspecies is poaching. Rhino horn is sold on the black market for ornamental and medicinal purposes. Habitat loss due to soil development for agricultural purposes is also a threat to some species.
Species Information: There are two species in Africa: the White Rhinoceros and the Black Rhinoceros. Black rhinos are listed as critically endangered and their population has declined by almost 98% since 1960. Asian species are the rhinoceroses of Java, Sumatra and India. Of these, the rhinoceroses of Java and Sumatra are critically endangered. As of 2008, there are fewer than 50 adult males of the Javan species remaining; the Sumatra population shows a decline of approximately 80% within three generations (about 60 years)
Habitat: White rhinos are found in South Africa, and Black rhinos are found in Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and the United Republic of Zimbabwe. Both species have been reintroduced to several other African countries. In Asia, the Indian rhinoceros is found in India and Nepal, the Javan rhinoceros is found in Indonesia and Vietnam, and the Sumatra rhinoceros is found in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Koala
Status: endangered
Threat: spread of people destroying eucalyptus trees, food sources for koalas. In addition, the “nutritional value of remaining eucalyptus trees” is decreasing due to increasing CO2 in the atmosphere, leading to the inclusion of the koala in the list of the 10 most vulnerable species to climate change in the world.
Species information: The koala population is found in Australia. Some populations are declining while others are increasing.
Habitat: Regions in Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia
Magellanic penguin
Status: endangered
Threat: The threat mainly comes from oil pollution (according to 1994 reports, this causes more than 40,000 deaths per year). In addition to this, the fishing industry also plays a big role in the population decline.
Habitat: The Magellanic penguin breeds in the Pacific and Atlantic coasts South America in Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands.
The earth is teeming with life: thousands of species of vertebrates (mammals, reptiles, fish and birds); invertebrates (insects, crustaceans and protozoa); trees, flowers, shrubs and herbs; an amazing variety of bacteria, algae and other single-celled organisms that inhabit some of the hot vents of deep-sea volcanoes. And yet, this rich abundance of flora and fauna dwarfs the ecosystems of the deep past: it is estimated that since the beginning of life on Earth, an incredible 99.9% of all species have gone extinct.
Why? You can get some insight into the main reasons why animals are disappearing from the face of the Earth by reading the 10 points below.
This is the first thing that most people associate with the word "animal extinctions", and for good reason, since we all know about the consequences of the asteroid impact on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. It is likely that many of Earth's mass extinctions were caused by similar events, and astronomers are constantly on the lookout for comets or meteorites that could destroy human civilization.
Even without impact large asteroid or comets that could potentially cause temperatures to drop significantly, climate change poses an ongoing threat to most animals. We need look no further than the end of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago, when various megafauna were unable to adapt to rapidly rising temperatures (they also suffered from food shortages and hunting by humans).
We all know about the long-term threats of global warming - a gift of modern civilization!
3. Diseases
While it is unusual for a disease to single-handedly wipe out an entire species, due to food shortages, habitat loss and lack of genetic diversity, the introduction of a particularly deadly virus or bacteria at the wrong time can cause irreparable damage. Evidence for this theory can be found among amphibians, which fall prey to a fungal infection that infects the skin of frogs, toads, newts and salamanders, killing them within weeks. Another significant example is the plague pandemic, which killed more than a third of Europe's population in the Middle Ages.
Most animal species need a certain territory in which they can obtain food, reproduce and raise offspring, and (if necessary) expand their population. One bird can be content with a branch tall tree, while large carnivorous mammals (such as Bengal tigers) measure their territory in square kilometers. As human civilization inexorably expands wildlife, natural habitats are declining, thereby limiting and reducing animal populations, making them more susceptible to the effects of other extinction factors listed in this article.
5. Lack of genetic diversity
Once a species declines, there is little choice of available mates and a corresponding lack of genetic diversity. This means that it is much better to marry a complete stranger than to marry a cousin, since you risk getting offspring that are genetically unhealthy and susceptible to disease. A good example is the African cheetah, which is suffering due to a sharp decline in numbers due to low genetic diversity, thereby reducing the species' resilience to survival.
6. Adaptation to a changing environment
This is where we risk succumbing to a dangerous tautology: by definition, “better adapted” populations will always outperform those that lag behind, but it is often not known exactly who is better fit. For example, no one would have thought that prehistoric mammals were better adapted than dinosaurs until the Earth was hit by an asteroid. It typically takes thousands, sometimes millions of years, to identify species that are more adaptable, but the fact is that the vast majority of animals go extinct within that period of time.
7. Invasive species
While most species struggle to survive for eons (a period of time in geological history), sometimes natural selection is more bloody and one-sided. If a plant or animal from one ecosystem is accidentally moved to another, it can spread wildly, wiping out native populations. That's why American botanists wince at the mention of kudzu, a weed that was introduced from Japan in the late 19th century and is now spreading at a rate of 150,000 hectares a year, crowding out native vegetation.
8. Lack of food
Mass starvation is a quick, one-way and sure-fire road to extinction, especially since populations weakened by starvation are more vulnerable to disease and predators. For example, imagine that scientists found a way to eliminate malaria forever by eradicating all mosquitoes from the face of the Earth. At first glance, this may seem like good news for people, but remember the domino effect. All creatures that feed on mosquitoes (such as bats and frogs) will become extinct, followed by animals that feed bats and frogs, and so on down the food chain. Agree, not the most prosperous scenario.
9. Pollution
Marine animals such as fish, seals, corals and crustaceans are extremely sensitive to traces of toxic chemicals in lakes, rivers, seas and oceans. Dramatic changes in oxygen levels caused by industrial pollution can lead to the extinction of many aquatic animal populations. Although there is no evidence that environmental disasters (such as oil spills) have caused the extinction of entire species, chronic exposure to pollution can make plants and animals more susceptible to other threats on this list.
10 people
Humans have only colonized the Earth in the last 50,000 years, so it is unfair to blame Homo Sapens for the extinction of most animal species. However, there is no doubt that we have caused ecological devastation in a short period of time, wiping out entire species of animals.
Are we wise enough now to stop our reckless behavior? Time will show!