Top Ten Endangered Animals

A Top Ten list, whether of action flicks of all times or fashion faux pass committed or the PC games released in a year, is always eagerly awaited with bated breath, greeted with skepticism, and finally accepted with a pinch of salt. The Top 10 endangered animals list is however, always met with stunned disbelief followed by an overwhelming sense of grief. The green police strongly believe that each inclusion in the list is a sad reminder of the rapidity with which we are losing the animal species of the world.

Recently the World Wide Fund (WWF) came out with their Top 10 endangered animals list. The list includes the animal species that are most threatened by extinction. Heading the list is the majestic tiger, rapidly dwindling in numbers in their once-strongholds of Sunderbans in India and Bangladesh. Research shows that these big cats have decreased by 40 percent in the last decade. The polar bear, the earliest and probably one of the hardest hit by climatic changes brought on by rampant global warming, continues to feature in the list and so do the Pacific walrus and the Magellanic penguin.

The leatherback turtle is a surprise in the Top 10 endangered animals list. This species of marine animals have been on this earth for more than a hundred million years but these tough customers too, are now facing the threat of extinction. A penchant for sushi food among the gourmet food lovers has spelled doom for the Atlantic bluefin tuna. It can only be hoped that its inclusion in WWF’s Top 10 endangered animals list will raise awareness among its voracious consumers.

At present, there are only 720 mountain gorillas in the wild and less than 60 Javan rhinos in the world. Rampant killing by humans and destruction of their habitats have not spared these gigantic but helpless beasts. They feature in WWF’s Top 10 endangered animals list along with the delicate Monarch butterflies and the reclusive giant pandas, the latter being an abiding symbol of wildlife conservation.

WWF’s Top 10 endangered animals list is one Top Ten list that merits urgent attention and rapid action.

Rainforest Endangered Animals

The rain forest biomes are the home to almost 50%-75% animal and plant species of the entire world. Because of the wide scale depletion of these green resources the list of the
Rainforest endangered animals are increasing at an alarming rate.
There are several reptiles and insects that are getting endangered in the rainforest.

The Daintree region accounts for many Rainforest endangered animals like Bennett’s Tree Kangaroo, Southern Cassowary, etc. The green police have determined that rainforests of Indonesia have seen a large scale endangerment of Orangutans. Some non-profit rescue Australian organizations of the rainforest animals had began working in 1998. These organizations have helped to recover the habitat of many of these animals over the years. The rate of Rainforest endangered animals is also high in Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Brazil, Sumatra and India.

Other Rainforest endangered animals that are listed by the IUCN Red List of the Threatened Species are Jaguar, Harpy eagle, Golden Lion Tamarind monkey, Chimpanzee, Toucan, Gray mouse, Manatee, Gorilla and some others. The areas covering these animals are mostly in Mexico, Amazon basin, Madagascar, Central Africa, Caribbean and parts of South America. This list was composed in 1963 when almost 15,500 species and sub-species were already under the threat. The red-eyed frog is a rare species and is already listed under the critically endangered category.

Endangered Wild Animals

Today more than 500 of the spectacular species of animals have become extinct due to the humans and what is even worse is that most of this took place in this century itself. Apart from these 500 species of animals there are about 5,000 endangered wild animals in the world today. It is believed that at least one species of the wild animals or plants dies out each year. Their numbers have been steadily rising; some of these get added to the list of endangered wild animals without most of us even having knowledge of these facts.

The green police proclaim that the most important reasons behind the declining number of the wild animals is shrinking habitats, due to human encroachment, deforestation, and the impacts of climate change on their habitat as well as on what they feed on.

The wild animals are of great importance and value to the human beings and if adequate measures are not taken to safeguard their interests and to check the rapid decline in their numbers in the wild, it would not be long before we lose most or all of these beautiful creatures.

The first step towards saving the endangered wild species is to learn about these animals. Some of the animals that require our immediate help are the loggerhead turtle, the tiger, the greater horseshoe bat, macaque, empire penguins, elephants, the great apes, and the rhinos.

Endangered Animal Species

Endangered animal species are some of the earth’s most spectacular living beings. With the passing of each day the numbers of endangered animal species continue to increase across the globe, so much so that many of these endangered animal species are on the verge of extinction. From the elephants in Asia and Africa, the great apes of Africa, to the tigers and the rhinos also face serious danger from being extinct.

The greatest threat to these endangered animal species is the destruction of their natural habitat by the human beings. Many countries have now established laws for the conservation of these endangered animal species and adopted conservation methods for the protection of these species as well as their natural habitats. However despite their efforts there are only about 4000 tigers that remain in the wild the world over and the population of the tigers continues to decrease as these majestic big cats continue to be poached illegally for their skin, teeth and other body parts. So is the case of the other endangered species. According to the green police, the great apes were once found in Asia as well as Africa and had a mighty population. But today its numbers has reduced to an alarmingly low number so much so that these gentle giants are almost at the brink of extinction.

Animals That Are Endangered

Animals that are endangered today can be extinct animals tomorrow, so it is up to the human beings to help save the animals and stop them from being extinct. Our future generations need to know the value as well as the presence of the animals that we today know as rare or on the verge of extinction and the ecological balance also have to be maintained, there fore animals are an important requirement of Earth.

Animals that are endangered are usually very few in numbers are gradually becoming fewer due to human activities like poaching, over exploitation of animals such as whaling and killing for the animal body parts, as well as destruction of vast stretches of forest land that is the habitat of several animals. Diseases also are responsible for certain animals being on the verge of extinction. Global warming is another menace that threatens the existence of both animals and humans.

According to the green police, animals that are endangered include the Asian orangutan, Atlantic salmon, elephants, polar bears, koalas, marine turtles, rhinoceros, giant panda, Siberian tiger, gazelle, komodo dragon, leopard, tapir and several other animals.

The US Fish & Wildlife Service, Division of Law Enforcement has come with several laws that are for the protection of the endangered species of animals.