Vanishing Wild

"We consider species to be like a brick in the foundation of a building. You can probably lose one or two or a dozen bricks and still have a standing house. But by the time you've lost 20 per cent of species, you're going to destabilize the entire structure. That's the way ecosystems work."
- Donald Falk

In the lives of the wild a term has started to take the prior seat, no need to ponder so hard - Heard of Endangered Species? Right! In Many countries laws have been made to offer special protection to these species or their habitats. For example - forbidding hunting, restricting land development or creating preserves. But these most of the time remain in papers not very much coming to execution. Only a few of the many species actually make it to the lists and obtain legal protection.

Endangered Species :
A specie, a plant or an animal that is either few in number or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters or is at risk of becoming extinct is commonly termed as an Endangered Species.

A Look At the List
Endangered Mammals

• Blue Whale
• African Bush Elephant
• Asian elephant
• Asiatic Cheetah
• Bornean Orangutan
• Black Rhinoceros
• Giant Panda
• Gray Bat
• Island Fox
• Key Deer
• Snow Leopard
• Tiger

Endangered Birds

• Andean Condor
• Amsterdam Albatross
• Giant Ibis
• Hawaiian Crow
• Imperial Woodpecker
• Kiwi
• Laysan Duck
• Siberian Crane

Endangered Reptiles

• Antigua Ground Lizard
• Antigua Racer Snake
• Burmese Star Tortoise
• Cuban Crocodile
• Green Sea Turtle
• Komodo Dragon
• Endangered Amphibians
• Arroyo Toad
• Baw Baw Frog

Endangered Plants

• African Violet
• Chilean Wine Palm
• Dawn Red Wood
• Kaka Beak
• Madonna Lily
• Saguaro Cactus
• Wollemi Palm

Facts To Know

• According to scientists, more than one and one-half million species exist on the earth today. However, recent estimates state that at least 20 times that many species inhabit the planet.
• In the United States, 735 species of plants and 496 species of animals are listed as threatened or endangered.
• 266 of these listed species have recovery plans currently under development.
• There are more than 1,000 animal species endangered worldwide.
• There are more than 3,500 protected areas in existence worldwide. These areas include parks, wildlife refuges and other reserves. They cover a total of nearly 2 million square miles (5 million square km), or 3% of our total land area.
• Aquatic species, which are often overlooked, are facing serious trouble. One third of the United States’ fish species, two-thirds of its crayfish species, and almost three-quarters of its mussel species are in trouble