Endangered Species

1. Leatherback sea turtle 

The leatherback sea turtle is the largest sea turtle. Once a male leatherback sea turtle struggles from its
egg and makes its way to the sea as a 4-inch (10 cm) hatchling, it may never again return to land during
its 80-year lifetime. It can grow up to 6.5 feet (2 m) long and weigh 1,400 pounds (636 kg). The
leatherback gets its name from its shell, which is like a thick leathery skin, with the texture of hard
rubber. Although they are air-breathing animals born on land, leatherbacks, like all sea turtles, spend
their lives in the ocean. Females return to land only to lay their eggs. Leatherback sea turtles are unique
among sea turtles in that their primary food is jellyfish. The leatherback sea turtle is a circumglobal
species, meaning that it can range throughout almost all the oceans of the world. It nests on tropical
beaches in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.
Once abundant throughout the world’s oceans, all eight species of sea turtles are now threatened or
endangered due to Overexploitation, Habitat Loss, Irresponsible Fishing, Pollution

Source: http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/van_anim_turtle.htm

2. Black Spider Monkey

The Black Spider monkeys are found mainly in the tropical rain forests of Central, South America, Brazil
and Mexico. With long, tall and thin arms and gripping tails, they are seen moving gracefully from
branch to branch and tree to tree and live in the upper layers of the rainforest. Their primary food is
fruits, leaves, nuts, flowers, and insects.  Their behavior of hanging onto separate branches of the trees
using all of their four limbs and the tail as well gives them a spider like appearance. They are big in size
and require large expanse of moist evergreen forests and do not like to get disturbed. They can be noisy
animals and are often heard communicating with many calls, screeches, barks, and other sounds.
Female spider monkeys give birth every two to five years, to a single baby only. The young monkeys
depend on their mothers for about ten weeks completely. After that they start exploring the forests on
their own.
There are many reasons behind the endangered Spider monkeys. Habitat destruction, particularly
logging, destroys the tall trees that they depend upon for their food and habitat. The destruction of
rainforests has aggravated the disappearance of spider monkeys. Plus, there is also a lucrative pet trade.
Spider monkeys have been severely hunted throughout their range as they are considered good to eat
because of their large body size. As they are noisy and always travel in big troops, they are easy to
locate. As the Spider monkeys are vulnerable to malaria, they are also used in laboratory studies of the
disease.
Source: http://www.angrydmonkey.com
3. Blue Whale
The blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, weighing as much as 200 tons (approximately 33
elephants). The blue whale has a heart the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. Its stomach can hold one ton of
krill and it needs to eat about four tons of krill each day. They are the loudest animals on Earth and are
even louder than a jet engine. Their calls reach 188 decibels, while a jet reaches 140 decibels. Their low
frequency whistle can be heard for hundreds of miles and is probably used to attract other blue whales.
They believe these vocalizations are not only used for communication but also for navigating the dark
depths of the oceans.
Only about 10,000 to 25,000 blue whales still swim in the world’s oceans. Soviet whaling ships hunted
them aggressively for whale oil in the 1900s, causing them to nearly become extinct. From 1900 to the
mid-1960s, about 360,000 blue whales were slaughtered. In 1966 they were placed on the protected list
International Whaling Commission, which made commercial whaling illegal, but their numbers never
recovered. But every year many sustain injuries from collisions with ships. Environmental change such as
habitat loss and toxins in the ocean also threaten the massive marine mammals. Oil spills and garbage
that collect in the oceans pose a risk to these great sea beasts. Blue whales gained endangered status in
1986 by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List, are still on the list today.

Source:
1.http://guardianlv.com/2014/06/endangered-species-blue-whales-are-the-largest-mammals-that-ever-
lived/
2. http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/blue-whale

4. Giant Panda
This peaceful creature with a distinctive black and white coat is adored by the world and considered a
national treasure in China. The panda also has a special significance for WWF because it has been WWF's
logo since our founding in 1961. The rarest member of the bear family, pandas live mainly in bamboo
forests high in the mountains of western China. A newborn panda is about the size of a stick of butter—
about 1/900th the size of its mother—but can grow to up to 330 pounds as an adult. These bears are
excellent tree climbers despite their bulk. 
It has become one of the most endangered mammals in the world, with only 1,600 of them left.
Although they have been protected from hunting and on the Endangered Species list since 1984, pandas
are still disappearing. Due to the fact that pandas reproduce so infrequently, it is very difficult for their
population to recover from such a low point. Giant pandas are currently classified on IUCN’s Red List as
an endangered species.
One the main reasons that pandas have become endangered is habitat destruction. As the population in
China continues to grow, pandas’ habitat gets taken over by development, pushing them into smaller
and less livable areas. Habitat destruction also leads to food shortages. Pandas feed on several varieties
of bamboo that bloom at different times of the year. If one type of bamboo is destroyed by
development, it can leave the pandas with nothing to eat during the time it normally blooms, increasing
the risk of starvation.

Source:
1. http://www.animalfactguide.com/animal-facts/giant-panda/
2. http://www.exploringnature.org/db/detail.php?dbID=7&detID=68
5. West African Black Rhinoceros
The black rhino, of which the western black rhinoceros is a subspecies, was most commonly located in
several countries towards the southeast region of the continent of Africa. It was a subspecies of
the black rhinoceros declared extinct by the IUCN in 2011. The western black rhinoceros measured 9.8–
12.3 ft long, had a height of 4.6–5.9 ft, and weighed 800–1,400 kg. It had two horns, the first measuring
1.6–4.6 ft and the second 0.79–21.65 inches. Like all Black Rhinos, their common diet included leafy
plants and shoots around their habitat. During the morning or evening, they would browse for food.
During the hottest parts of the day, they slept or wallowed. Like most black rhinos, they are believed to
have been nearsighted and would often rely on local birds, such as the red-billed oxpecker, to help them
detect incoming threats.
It was once widespread in the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa, but its numbers declined due to poaching.
Many people believe their horns held medicinal value, which lead to heavy poaching. However, this
belief has no grounding in scientific fact.  Between 1960 and 1995 an astonishing 98 percent of black
rhinos were killed by poachers, either to feed the new and voracious demand for TCM or, to a lesser
extent, for horns to be used as ceremonial knife handles in the Middle East. All rhinos suffered; the
western black rhino, already weakened by decades of overhunting, was the hardest hit.

Source:
1. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/2013/11/13/western-black-rhino-extinct/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_black_rhinoceros

6. Pyrenean Ibex:
The recently extinct Pyrenean ibex, also known by the Spanish common name bucardo, was one of the
four subspecies of wild goat to inhabit the Iberian Peninsula. The Pyrenean ibex had greyish brown fur
that grew thicker in winter. Males had striking black coloring on their legs, neck, and face. Males also
had large, thick, curving horns with ridges that deepened with age. Females' horns were much shorter
and thinner.
The ibex are thought to have numbered some 50,000 historically, but by the early 1900s its numbers
had fallen to fewer than 100. While the exact cause of the Pyrenean ibex's extinction is unknown,
scientists hypothesize that a number of different factors contributed to the decline of the species,
including poaching, disease, and the inability to compete with other domestic and wild ungulates for
food and habitat. The last Pyrenean ibex, a female nicknamed Celia, was found dead in northern Spain
on Jan. 6, 2000, killed by a falling tree. Scientists took skin cells from the animal's ear and preserved
them in liquid nitrogen, and in 2009 an ibex was cloned, making it the first species to become
"unextinct." However, the clone died just seven minutes later due to lung defects.

Source:
1. http://endangeredspecies.about.com/od/extinctionpastandpresent/a/Pyrenean-Ibex.htm
2.http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/10-animals-presumed-extinct-in-the-last-
decade/pyrenean-ibex
7. Sea Mink
The sea mink is an extinct North American member of the family Mustelidae. It is the only mustelid, and
one of only two terrestrial mammal species in the order Carnivora, to become extinct in historic times
(the other being the Falkland Islands wolf). The body of the sea mink was significantly longer than that
of the closely related American mink and also bulkier, leading to a pelt that was almost twice the size of
the other species. The longest specimen recorded was said to be 82.6 cm. The sea mink produced a
distinctive odor, and had fur that was said to be coarser and redder than the American mink's. The sea
mink was hunted to extinction before scientists had an opportunity to analyze them. From its relatives
we have a general idea of what this semiaquatic weasel looked like. Similar to the European Mink and
the American Mink, the extinct sea mink’s diet consisted of seabirds, most likely the Labrador duck,
seabird eggs, hard-bodied marine invertebrates, and in some cases insects. Since the sea mink was
larger than the other two species of Mustelidae it is assumed that it ate in greater proportions.
The sea mink was hunted to extinction to satisfy the demand of the European fur market. Fur traders
made traps to catch the sea minks and also pursued them with dogs. Even before the European
expansion, Native Americans would capture the animals for their pelts and flesh. A large contributing
factor to the eventual extinction of the sea mink was the unregulated hunting and harvesting of these
animals. Another possible contributing factor was the high mortality rate of the young. Ultimately, the
sea mink became extinct sometime between 1860 and 1870.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_mink