Endangered Animals

Komodo Dragon
*The Komodo dragon is the world's largest living reptile. It is found mainly on the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rintja, Padar, and Flores. There are only an estimated 1,000 to 5,000 of these monitor lizards living today. Reaching lengths of up to 3 m or more, and weighing up to 126 kg, these reptiles are swift runners and climbers with great appetites for deer and wild boar.

Although often regarded as pests, they are not a serious menace to humans. In order to protect the dragon, the Indonesian government has made the islands of Padar and Rintja into nature reserves for both the lizard and its prey. Commercial trade in specimens or skins is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Elephant

*The African elephant is the largest living land animal and weighs up to 5,400 kg. It inhabits the Savannah, brush, forest, river valleys, and semi-desert regions of Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Besides its greater size, it differs from the Asian elephant in having larger ears and tusks, a sloping forehead, and two “fingers” at the tip of its trunk, compared to only one in the Asian species.

As vegetarians, elephants require much food, sometimes consuming more than 225 kg of plant matter a day. Their trunk is employed to pull branches off trees, uproot grass, pluck fruit, and to place food in their mouths. The trunk is also used for smell, touch and in drinking, greeting or throwing dust for dust baths. In both sexes, the two incisor teeth of the upper jaw grow to form tusks, and it is for this ivory, used at one time in the manufacture of piano keys, billiard balls, and other objects, that hunters have slaughtered thousands of these magnificent animals.

Green Turtle

Female green turtles return to the same beaches regularly and in great numbers to lay their eggs. Throughout history these turtles have been an important source of food to local human populations and sea voyagers. The green turtle was once common in the warm oceans of the world, but has become increasingly scarce in areas where it is commercially exploited. It is still common, however, in Hawaii, but now rarely nests in North America, although feeding areas in Florida still have fairly large populations. The green turtle can also be found around Australia.

There is a major remaining nesting site in the Galapagos Islands and also on Ascension Island in the south Atlantic, to which the females have to travel over 2,000 km from their feeding grounds. Brazil, Costa Rica, Malaya, the Philippines, and Indonesia maintain protected hatcheries and regulate the harvest of the species.

Although 58 countries have helped to protect the green turtle by joining an international convention controlling the import, export, and use of endangered species, the demand for turtle soup, "turtle oil" for cosmetics, and turtle skin for shoe leather has encouraged a continuing, and often illegal, trade.

Gorilla

This largest of the great apes inhabits a number of isolated areas on the forested mountain slopes of eastern Zaire and parts of Uganda and Rwanda. Its population is estimated at approximately 400. Although much of the animal’s range is within national parks and reserves, human's growing needs for farming and grazing lands have reduced these areas. These disruptions may also force other animals, such as elephant and buffalo, into a reduced habitat where they compete with the gorilla for the same foods.

Listed as an endangered species, the mountain gorilla has some protection in a ban among most zoos against the acquisition of specimens and in restrictive controls against international trade.

The gorilla is a shy and, for the most part, inoffensive vegetarian -- a far cry from the fearsome, aggressive creature depicted in films and comic books. Only when provoked or threatened does it rise to an erect position and beat its cupped hands against its chest in an attempt to intimidate intruders. Gorillas are the largest and most powerful of the apes. Adult males reach an average height of 150-170 cm and weigh from 135 to 230 kg. Females are smaller, but both male and female are tremendously powerful, possessing the ability to tear branches from bushes and uproot small trees. They spend their days quietly, either in a leisurely search for food, or resting in the warm sun.

Unfortunately, these animals, native to the equatorial regions of Africa, are diminishing in number due, in part, to illegal hunting and advancing civilization. Also, laws prohibiting, rather than just controlling, the capture and sale of gorillas need to be passed and enforced in all countries within the species’ range.

Cheetah

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora now lists the cheetah as an endangered species. The expansion of human settlements in Africa is a threat to the cheetah's habitat and prey. As well, ranchers, who kill cheetahs in order to protect their flocks, and zoo collectors have had an impact on the cheetah's decline. Even in national parks and other reserves the animals, in their isolation, are susceptible to disease and competition from other carnivores.

The Asiatic cheetah, of similar appearance, once occurred in northern India and westward to North Africa. It is now found in small numbers only in Iran and on the Turkomen-Afghan border.

Orangutan

Wild populations of this peaceful, intelligent, fruit-eating ape are now found only in northern Sumatra and Borneo. Judging from fossils found in southern China and northern Vietnam, the orangutan was, in prehistoric times, more widely distributed throughout the tropical lowland forests of southeast Asia. The world population now numbers between 15,000 and 30,000 in the wild and about 500 in zoos.

The major cause for the recent decline is the continuing destruction of the forests, and, to a lesser extent, the illegal killing of adult females to obtain juveniles for the animal trade. The species is now fully protected by law throughout its range, but enforcement is difficult in remote areas. Existing reserves in Sumatra and Borneo are important in the orangutan's survival. Additional reserves, forest management, and stricter control of international trade are also essential.

Tiger

Formerly abundant in several Asian countries, tigers are now severely threatened. The Bengal tiger population of India has fallen to an estimated 40,000, and it is listed as an endangered species. The destruction of the tiger's forest habitat, trophy hunting, commercial hunting, and killing in order to protect domestic livestock have all been contributing factors in the decline of these magnificent animals.

Fifty-eight nations, including Canada, have approved a protective measure for all cats, which includes controlling the import, export, and use of such skins. Also, public opinion and the development of synthetic fur has slightly diminished the market for tiger skins.

Giant Panda

One of the world’s rarest animals, the giant panda lives in the sub-alpine forests in the west central region of China. The classification of the panda has long been a matter of controversy among zoologists. Originally classified with the bears, it was later grouped with raccoons. The weight of evidence that has accumulated over the years, however, now supports the view that it is related to bears. Its closest relative is the spectacled bear of South America.

The giant panda is a large, stocky animal measuring up to 1.5 m in length and weighing up to 150 kg. Its diet consists chiefly of vegetable matter, but it also eats small animals.

Shy and solitary by nature when in the wild, they become friendly and playful in captivity. Only a handful exist in zoos of the western world, but Chinese zoos have reported successful breeding of their pandas. Currently, the World Wildlife Fund and the Chinese Ministry of Forestry have developed a conservation management plan that outlines 14 new panda reserves and five corridors connecting patches of panda habitat.

Kakapo

This large ground parrot, named kakapo by the Maoris and owl parrot by European colonists, was once widespread in New Zealand’s beech forests and nearby grasslands. Practically flightless, it was easy prey for the Stone Age Polynesians of 1,000 years ago. With European settlement in the 1800s much of the bird’s habitat was destroyed. Introduced predators such at the stoat further reduced kakapo populations, and, finally, deer damaged the bird’s remaining habitat.

A critically endangered species, only 52 to 54 kakapos survive today. Some of these birds live on New Zealand’s Stewart Island, but most of them are found on Codfish and Little Barrier Island.

For more information about endangered & extinct animals, please visit this site http://www.animalport.com/extinct-animals/Extinct-Animals.html. Thanks to this website.

i hope this animal will not extinct

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What u mean????????