Endangered Species List: These Ten Animals May Be Extinct In Ten Years [Video]
The endangered species list has been growing for a long time now, inspiring several films and movements such as PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) in its wake. These animals usually end up on the list for different reasons, including changes in environment and plain and simple poaching.
While it may seem like a blatant act of cruelty to kill off an entire species for sport, some hunters apparently put their conscience in their pocket for promise of a hefty payday.
Sometimes we just think of progress before it dawns on us that we may be destroying these animals’ homes. Some species require certain living conditions that don’t exist elsewhere in the world, and those living conditions are destroyed in favor of building shopping malls, apartment complexes, and parking lots. It isn’t until afterward that we realize what we’ve done, and we shrug it off because it doesn’t impact us directly.
Africa has 1/3 of endangered species. @PantheraCats is working to change that. http://t.co/yRmAzO8zNw #EarthDay pic.twitter.com/sWqHJ8CdBe
— Aid for Africa (@AidforAfrica) April 22, 2014
Progress and profit are usually the reasons we give for perpetuating the endangered species list.
10) Ploughshare Tortoise
This is the world’s rarest variety of tortoise, with only 300 or so currently living in Madagascar. Poachers are the reason for its potential extinction, as in 2013 a disturbingly high number of the tortoises were found in a smuggler’s bag.
9) Iberian Lynx
About 100 adults were known to be in the wild as of 2004. Some of those born in captivity, such as in zoos, are being released to help boost that number. Today, it is considered critically endangered and shares its remaining number with the tortoise mentioned above.
8) Sumatran Rhino
These are the smallest known species of rhino, threatened by poachers for their horn. A single kilogram of its horn is worth $30,000, and only 200 of this species remain alive in the world.
7) Greater Bamboo Lemur
It was thought extinct until 1986, and still remains among the rarest of animals on the endangered species list, with only 100 remaining in the wild. It has the remarkable ability to eat bamboo, which contains cyanide.
6) Sumatran Tiger
They are yet another species facing extinction by poachers. Small by nature and living wild only in Sumatra, 40 of these tigers are killed every year. Since 1978, over half of the remaining thousand have been killed.
5) Amur Leopard
This leopard has been inbreeding to promote its own population, and the practice is reducing its ability to reproduce. Only 40 remain in the wild, and it might not survive the next decade.
4) Hula Painted Frog
It had been rumored extinct until 2011, and now it’s believed that only 14 still exist in the world. Its closest relative died out thousands of years ago.
3) Axolotl
This is a salamander thought extinct until just this year when two were spotted. It has the ability to regenerate severed limbs, but its importance to scientific research could also be the cause of its extinction.
2) Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle
They are the world’s largest known freshwater turtle, and only four are known to exist. Much like the leopard above, it is facing difficulties in reproduction, with its eggs not hatching.
1) Baiji Dolphin
Thought extinct after a six week search in 2006, one was spotted in 2007. The rarity of even having been seen makes it number one on the endangered species list.
While some of these animals may be facing extinction for natural reasons, it has been proven that if we as humans can leave them alone, they might just thrive. Nature has the uncanny ability to survive if left to its own devices, and avoid the endangered species list.
[image via Blogspot]
