On Earth Day, it is important to not only recognize cute animals, but also those whose species may be in peril. Below, you can find stunning images of threatened and endangered animals from around the world, courtesy of Explore.org.
For many species across the globe, extinction is a legitimate threat. A 2008 IUCN study found that one in four of the world's mammals are threatened with extinction.
Several of the species seen below are what the World Wildlife Fund calls "flagship species." Protection of these species "influences and supports the survival of other species" and "offers opportunities to protect whole landscapes or marine areas," according to the organization.
Conservation efforts are needed in many parts of the world, especially where poaching and habitat destruction remain prevalent. Officials in South Africa recently announced that the country is enacting new hunting rules in an attempt to cut down on poaching and illegal rhino horn trading, reports AP. A record 448 rhinos -- which are listed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List -- were poached in South Africa last year and 171 have already been killed this year.
On Earth Day, it is important to not only recognize cute animals, but also those whose species may be in peril. Below, you can find stunning images of threatened and endangered animals from around the...
On Earth Day, it is important to not only recognize cute animals, but also those whose species may be in peril. Below, you can find stunning images of threatened and endangered animals from around the...
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Police officers tipped off by an anonymous informer forced their way into a Johannesburg apartment where they found 10 rhinoceros horns and...
Some may seem ferocious and terrifying, others cute and cuddly, but all tigers share one thing in common -- they're an endangered species. Tigers (Panthera...
By Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Senior Writer: Spring is in the air, and baby panda-making is in the minds of zookeepers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo...
Endangered Species Day provides an opportunity for people of all ages to learn about the efforts that are currently underway to preserve our world's wildlife populations and discover how they can help.
More than two-thirds of these amazing animals, including all the polar bears in Alaska, will likely be gone by 2050. So it boggles the mind that the Obama administration announced plans to reissue a Bush-era regulation that limits protections for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act.
Suppressed EPA report, meet suppressed polar bear report. You both represent inconvenient truths.
Dr Mitchell Taylor has been researching the status and management of polar bears in Canada and around the Arctic Circle for 30 years, as both an academic and a government employee. More than once since 2006 he has made headlines by insisting that polar bear numbers, far from decreasing, are much higher than they were 30 years ago. Of the 19 different bear populations, almost all are increasing or at optimum levels, only two have for local reasons modestly declined.
No! No! This wasn't what we wanted to hear. It just does not fit in with our preconceived notions.
TomDi: Suppressed EPA report, meet suppressed polar bear report. You both
Sometimes I wonder where Huff gets its "green" stuff. You talk about FLAGSHIP SPECIES, you show loggerhead and hawksbill sea turtles in a section about endangered sea life. Yet for some unknown reason, the most endangered FLAGSHIP SPECIES in the ocean doesn't even get a mention. 10 years ago there were 100k leatherbacks in the Pacific, in 2010, there were 2300 left. I suspect the number now is under 2k. The leatherback is the principle predator of jellyfish, eating their weight ( for an adult that would be about 1,000lbs) in jellies every 24hrs. About 5 years ago the UN noted that jellies were about 1/3 of EVERYTHING in the ocean. 200 species of jellies live from hours to months, when they die they become a sort of hard carbon that can not be consumed by ocean bacteria and eventually degrade into carbon dioxide which in turn increases the acid content of sea water.
This kills fish populations and helps create huge dead zones. Jellies eat zoo plankton and fish eggs. WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN when the last 2k of leatherbacks go belly up and the jellies take over? At the very least you could have included the leatherback !
singsingsing: Sometimes I wonder where Huff gets its "green" stuff. You
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Posted: 04/22/2012 5:31 pm Updated: 04/22/2012 5:31 pm