Did you know that many living things are disappearing at this moment? The term “endangered” refers to species of either plants or animals that are threatened with extinction in the near future. The Ministry of Environment in the Republic of Korea designates endangered wildlife. The designated animals and plants are strictly prohibited from being illegally caught, harvested, distributed, and stored, and are subject to government control. Here are three examples of endangered animals you may not know about.
1. Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)
The tiger is a mammal belonging to the Canidae family and is the largest species of the felines. The color of the fur on its back is bright yellowish-brown, and there are many irregular black stripes. Its belly is white with prominent brown spots. It lives mainly in the jungles of deep mountains and feeds on the meat of fresh wild animals it catches. In the early twentieth century, there were about 100,000 tigers in the wild with 9 subspecies. Now, the number is 3,200 and about 5,000 tigers are in captive populations. What made the tiger endangered? Several factors have negatively impacted these creatures such as poaching, illegal trade of tiger parts, loss of habitat, human conflict, and climate change. People hunt tigers for their pelts, teeth, claws, and bines. These items are collected and sold. Some people use the tiger’s body parts in traditional medical practice. Given these factors, it is clear why tigers are endangered. However, there is hope from conservation efforts by scientists and support from all of us to help remove tigers of an endangered status.
2. Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
With a body length of around 150~180cm, a tail length of 12~15cm, and a weight of 85~125kg, giant pandas are endangered mainly due to habitat loss. They have white, dense fur with black hair around their eyes and legs. Humans have cleared much of the bamboo forests that pandas need to survive. Because pandas only eat bamboo, they cannot adapt to life outside of those forests in the way that other animals do, unless the pandas are provided with bamboo. Giant pandas also have difficulty reproducing, even in captivity, due to their extreme choosiness about their mates, their low-nutrient milk, and the fact that they usually only have one viable cub at a time. Poaching is also an issue for pandas since panda skins and pelts are valuable on the black market.
3. Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
The blue whale is a whale belonging to the baleen whale family. The lengthiest blue whales are 110 feet, but they are more commonly between 70 and 80 feet. Adult blue whales weigh up to 150 tons, which makes them the largest animals to ever live. They eat krill as a staple food but occasionally eat small fish rather than krill. In the past, blue whales were extremely abundant and found swimming in all of the major oceans of the world. However, it is estimated that there are now only between 1,500 – 2,500 blue whales left in existence around the world. Because of their large size and supply of blubber, blue whales were a popular species to hunt. Consequently, whale hunters sell their blubber and body parts to suppliers who made various materials out of it. They usually make oil, food, clothing, and various other products such as soap, perfume, candles, and cosmetics.
The main reason why these species are endangered is because of human needs. For instance, people hunted tigers, giant pandas, and blue whales for their teeth, skins, blubber and respectively. Outside of these three, many species around the world are facing similar problems. The extinction of wild species will certainly have a fatal impact on the human race. Thus, for us as human beings, it becomes a great responsibility to save the wildlife, and, most importantly, ourselves.
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