.
Land clearing, farming and competition or predation by
introduced species has led to the extinction of many
native plants and animals.Throughout the world, more
than 30 000 species of plants and animals are currently
in danger of becoming extinct, mainly through the
activities of humans. The loss of a species affects other
species in the food web and reduces the diversity of the
planet. This presentatoin looks at some of the human
activities that have caused or are threatening to cause
the extinction and endangerment of various species.
These are species which are not found
after searches of known or likely areas where they may
occur. A species may be extinct from a local area,
region, country, continent or the entire earth.
Examples of such species are :
Asiatic cheetah
Pink head duck
Golden toad
An endangered animal is one whose species is on the
verge of going extinct unless steps are taken soon to
rescue it or An endangered species is a population
of organisms which is facing a high risk of
becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers,
or threatened by changing environmental or
predation parameters.
Pollutants and other threats in its habitat are
factors that cause endangerment.
Reasons for
Endangerment
Habitat
Destruc
-tion
Introd
uction of
Exotic
Species
global
warming
Limited
Distribu
tion
damag
e from
extreme
climate
events
global
aggreg
ate
impacts
Pollution
Disease
Over-
exploita
tion
As per the official records, in India, there are over
130000 endangered animal species, although some
experts believe that the number may be even more
than the projected figures. However, some claim
that the number is actually much more. The
number of endangered species in India accounts
for around 8.86% of the world’s mammals. The
mammals are extended over 186 genera, 45
families and 13 orders out of which around 89
species are listed as threatened in the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Animals (IUCN 2006).
Scientific classification
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Mammalia
Order : Carnivora
Family : Felidae
Subfamily : Pantherinae
Genus : Panthera
Species : Panthera tigris
Subspecies : Panthera tigris tigris
The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris ) is the most numerous
tiger subspecies. It is the national animal of India. Its
populations have been estimated at 1,706 – 1,909 in
India.
Bengal is traditionally fixed as the typical locality for the
binomial Panthera tigris.Since 2010, it has been
classified as an endangered species by IUCN.
The total population is estimated at fewer than 2,500,
and none of the Tiger Conservation Landscapes within the
Bengal tiger's range is large enough to support an
effective population size of 250 adult individuals.
The Bengal tiger's coat is yellow to light orange, with stripes
ranging from dark brown to black; the belly and the interior
parts of the limbs are white, and the tail is orange with black
rings.
Male Bengal tigers have an average total length of 270 to 310
cm including the tail, while females measure 240 to 265 cm
on average.The tail is typically 85 to 110 cm long, and on
average, tigers are 90 to 110 cm in height at the shoulders.
The average weight of males is 221.2 kg , while that of females
is 139.7 kg .
Phylum : Chordata
Clade : Dinosauria
Clade : Theropoda
Class : Aves
Order : Passeriformes
Family : Passeridae
Genus: : Passer
Species : P. domesticus
The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a bird of
the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the
world.
A small bird, it has a typical length of 16 cm and a weight
of 24–39.5 g .
Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and
grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown
markings.
One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the House
Sparrow occurs naturally in most of India, and much of
Asia.
The House Sparrow is a compact bird, typically about 16 cm
long, ranging from 14–18 cm .It has a large rounded head,
and a stout bill with a culmen length of 1.1 to 1.5 cm. It has
a short tail, 5.2 to 6.5 cm long. The wing chord is 6.7 to 8.9
cm, and the tarsus is 1.6 to 2.5 cm.
In weight, the House Sparrow ranges from 24–39.5 g Younger
birds are smaller, males are larger during the winter, and
females are larger during the breeding season. Between and
within subspecies, there is further variation based on
latitude, altitude, climate, and other environmental
factors, under biological principles such as Bergmann's rule.
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Mammalia
Order : Proboscidea
Family : Elephantidae
Genus : Elephas
Species : Elephas maximus
The Asian or Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus) is the only
living species of the genus Elephas and is distributed
in India
.
Asian elephants are the largest living land animals
in Asia.
Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed
as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by
at least 50%..In 2012, the wild population was estimated at
between 41,410 and 52,345 individuals.
Asian elephants are rather long-lived, with a maximum
recorded life span of 86 years.
This species has been domesticatedand is used for such
purposes as timber-carrying and transportation.
The Borneo elephant is smaller than other Asian elephant
subspecies, and has relatively large ears, a longer tail, and
straighter tusks.
In general, the Asian elephant is smaller than the African
elephant and has the highest body point on the head. The back is
convex or level. The ears are small with dorsal borders folded
laterally.
It has up to 20 pairs of ribs and 34 caudal vertebrae. The feet
have more nail-like structures than those of African elephants —
five on each forefoot, and four on each hind foot.
Scientific classification
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Synapsida
Class : Mammalia
Order : Carnivora
Family : Ursidae
Genus : Ailuropoda
The panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is also known as the
giant panda , to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda
it is a bear which is native to Asia.
It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches
around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body.
Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is
99% bamboo. Pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other
grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents
or carrion.
In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub
leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared
food.
The giant panda, a black-and-white bear, has a body typical of
bears. It has black fur on ears, eye patches, muzzle, legs, and
shoulders. The rest of the animal's coat is white.
Although scientists do not know why these unusual bears
are black and white, some speculate that the bold coloring
provides effective camouflage into their shade-dappled snowy
and rocky surroundings.
The panda's thick, wooly coat keeps it warm in the cool forests of
its habitat. Giant pandas have large molar teeth and strong jaw
muscles for crushing tough bamboo.
Scientific classification
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Mammalia
Order : Carnivora
Family : Felidae
Genus : Puma
Species : P. concolor
Subspecies : P. c. coryi
The Florida panther is an endangered subspecies of cougar
(Puma concolor). This species is also known as the cougar,
mountain lion, puma, and catamount.
Males can weigh up to 160 pounds and live within a range
that includes the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades
National Park, and the Florida Panther National Wildlife
Refuge.
This population, the only unequivocal cougar representative
in the eastern United States, currently occupies 5% of its
historic range.
In the 1970s, there were an estimated 20 Florida panthers
in the wild, and their numbers have increased to an
estimated 100 to 160 as of 2011.
Characteristics
Florida Panthers are spotted at birth and typically have blue eyes.
As the panther grows the spots fade and the coat becomes
completely tan while the eyes typically become more of a yellow.
Florida panthers lack the ability to roar, and instead make
distinct sounds that include whistles, chirps, growls, hisses, and
purrs.
Florida panthers are mid-sized for the species, being smaller than
cougars from Northern climes but larger than cougars from the
neotropics. Adult female Florida panthers weigh 29–45 kg whereas
the larger males weigh 45–72 kg Total length is from 1.8 to 2.2 m
and shoulder height is 60–70 cm .
Kingdom : Plantae
(unranked) : Angiosperms
(unranked) : Eudicots
(unranked) : Rosids
Order : Malpighiales
Family : Rafflesiaceae
Genus : Rafflesia
Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It contains
approximately 28 species , all found in southeastern Asia, on
Indonesia, Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand and
the Philippines.
Rafflesia was found in the Indonesian rain forest by an
Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold in 1818, and
named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the leader of the
expedition.
It was discovered even earlier by Louis Deschamps in Java
between 1791 and 1794, but his notes and illustrations, seized
by the British in 1803, were not available to western science
until 1861.
Rafflesia is the official state flower of Indonesia, the Sabah
state in Malaysia, and of the Surat Thani Province, Thailand.
Characteristics
Rafflessia has no stems, leaves or true roots. It is a holoparasite of
vines in the genus Tetrastigma (Vitaceae), spreading its absorptive
organ, the haustorium, inside the tissue of the vine.
The only part of the plant that can be seen outside the host vine is
the five-petaled flower.
In some species, such as Rafflesia arnoldii, the flower may be over
100 centimetres in diameter, and weigh up to 10 kilograms . Even
the smallest species, R. baletei, has 12 cm diameter flowers.
The flowers look and smell like rotting flesh, hence its local names
which translate to "corpse flower" .
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Mammalia
Order : Cetacea
Family : Delphinidae
Genus : Tursiops
Species : Truncatus
Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and
well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of
oceanic dolphin.
Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the
common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the Indo-
Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus), instead of one.
Research in 2011 revealed a third species, the Burrunan dolphin
(Tursiops australis).
Bottlenose dolphins inhabit warm and temperate seas worldwide.
Bottlenose dolphins live in groups typically of 10–30 members,
called pods, but group size varies from single individuals up to
more than 1,000 .
Dolphins diets consist mainly of forage fish. Dolphins often work
as a team to harvest fish schools, but they also hunt individually.
Dolphins search for prey primarily using echolocation, which is
similar to sonar. They emit clicking sounds and listen for the
return echos to determine the location and shape of nearby items,
including potential prey.
Bottlenose dolphins also use sound for communication, including
squeaks and whistles emitted from the blowhole and sounds
emitted through body language, such as leaping from the water
and slapping their tails on the water surface.
Toucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near
passerine birds from the Neotropics. The Ramphastidae
family is most closely related to the American barbets.
The family includes five genera and about forty different
species. The name of this bird group is derived from the
Tupi word tukana, via Portuguese.
The family includes toucans, aracaris and toucanets;
more distant relatives include various families of barbets
and woodpeckers in the suborder Pici.
Toucans are found in South and Central America in the
canopy layer of the rainforest.
Toucans range in size from the Lettered Aracari (Pteroglossus
inscriptus), at 130 g and 29 cm, to the Toco Toucan
(Ramphastos toco), at 680 g and 63 cm.
The legs of the toucan are strong and rather short. The colorful
and large bill, which in some large species measures more than
half the length of the body, is the hallmark of toucans.
A toucan's tongue is long narrow, grey, and singularly frayed
on each side, adding to its sensitivity as an organ of taste.
Toucans are arboreal and typically lay 2–4 white eggs in their
nests.
These are species whose population has declined to
levels from where it is likely to move into the
endangered category in the near future if the negative
factors continue to operate.
These designations are made by a group of biologists
who study these animals and are familiar with their
needs and numbers.
Examples of vulnerable species:
African Elephant
Gangetic Dolphin
Hornbill
The government can formulate laws and
policies, put various Conservation Projects
into place but the success of these projects lies
with the people. It is the community that is
responsible for the effective implementation
of these initiatives.As members of a
community it is our duty to conserve and
protect the Natural Vegetation and Wildlife
not just for our present but for the future
generation as well. It also ensures
sustainable development.
Nature has been giving us
every thing ,so its our time to
give something to nature &
to protect it. Without these
bio-diversity the life of
human is worthless. Nature
has always kept us teaching
in every part of our life. So,its
our humble request for
everyone to protect the
nature.
Year : 2014 – 2015
Class : IX .F
Aiswarya.B
Meghana E.C
B.S Sreelekshmi
Arunima P.M
Aysha Beevi Abdul Vahid
Geethika S.V