subject: How To Help Endangered Animals [print this page] Endangered animals are the animals, which are on the verge of extinction. The specie, which is on the verge of extinction, is called as endangered specie. Simple meaning of the word endangered is that very few number of animals of that specie are alive. There are many possible reasons for extinction of specie. Some of them are natural and some of them are man caused. There are two main aspects of ecology, Speciation and Extinction. In simple words, Speciation is the pure scientific term for evolution of a new specie i.e. evolution of a new individual specie from its parent specie. On the other hand extinction refers to the end of that biological specie i.e. death of last individual of that specie. Speciation and Extinction are natural phenomenon. These are on going process.
Scientists have found out that there have been 5 extinction events until now. Some of them were so serious that almost ninety percent of the life was destroyed in those extinction events. The last and most famous extinction event occurred around 63 million years ago which wiped off all the dinosaurs completely from the face of the Earth. This incident gave opportunity for the rise of mammals.
Causes of animals being Endangered Animals:
There are many reasons for endangerment of animals. As mentioned above some are natural some are unnatural i.e. reason for which man is responsible. There are many reasons for a particular specie being endangered. Although these factors can be grouped and then analyzed, there are many causes that have been found to appear repeatedly. Below are several factors leading towards endangerment:
Hunting: This is one of the main reasons as to why many animals of different species have become Endangered animals. Excessive hunting of animals have pushed those animals to be endangered. In the early days man used to do hunting of animals mainly for food and sometimes rarely to protect themselves from them. But now days animals are being killed mainly for economic gains which is very cruel and anti natural. This is also disturbing natural food cycle as well as the ecological balance.
Destroying their natural habitat: Rapid habitat loss is the primary cause of species endangerment. Our planet is continually changing which is causing habitats to be altered and/or modified. Natural changes usually tend to occur at a gradual and slow pace, which cause only a slight impact on individual species. However, when changes occur at a fast pace, there is very little or practically speaking no time for individual species to react and then adjust themselves to new circumstances. This can create disastrous results.
Deforestation: Excessive woodcutting has given a rise to the problem called as deforestation. The deforestation results into destroying the food options and/or availability of food. This is one of major reasons.
Introduction of non native animals: Introduction of non native animals like rats, pigs, mongoose dogs, insects etc is also one of the reasons. These non-native animals many times are the reason of infection to the animals living in that geographical area. As those animals are not adapted to situation like this, they start dying. These infections results in endangered animals situation.
Why to Save Endangered Animals?
Plants and animals hold agricultural, medicinal, commercial, ecological and aesthetic values.
Once lost these species can not be gained back.
Most importantly, flow of the food cycle must be kept in smooth. If that does not happen, then it will be surely and directly hazardous to human specie. Because of which one day human specie may be endangered.
Endangered species must be protected and saved for the future generations to come so that they also can experience their presence and value.
