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Top 10 Endangered Species & Wild Animal Facts
FROM STUDENTS & READERS: TOP 10 ENDANGERED SPECIES QUESTIONS
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How Many Tigers Are Left In The Wild?
Which Animals Live In Rainforests?
What's The Difference Between A Monkey And An Ape?
How Does The Rain Forest Food Web Work?
What Do Chimps Eat?
What Is A Definition For Zoology?
What Do Pink Dolphins Eat?
Are Pink Dolphins Endangered?
What Is The Right Whale's Population?
Where Do Chimps Live?
What Are The 10 Most Dangerous Sharks?
How Long Do Elephants Live?
Are Flamingos Pink Because They Eat Shrimp?
What Are The Chimpanzee's Enemies?
Which Endangered Species Live In Rainforests?
How Do Pink Dolphins Protect Themselves?
Do You Have A List Of Jungle Animals?
How Many Types Of Dolphins Are There?
What Eats Tadpoles?
What Eats A Bottlenose Dolphin?
Where Do Bottlenose Dolphins Live?
Can You Name Some Types Of Endangered Rainforest Animals?
What Is The World's Largest Snake?
What Can You Tell Me About Lemurs?
Do Alligators Live In The Rainforest?
What's The Difference Between A Chimpanzee And A Bonobo?
What Is A Gibbon?
How Many Subspecies Of Gorillas Are There?
Where Do Orangutans Live?
What Is A 'Prehensile Tail'?
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Find wild animal facts & top 10 endangered species info
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This Week's Top Features
Monkeys Demonstrate Use Of 'Dental Floss' To Their Young
Wildlife researchers working in Thailand recently discovered that, not only do macaque monkeys use pieces of hair to floss their teeth, but they also demonstrate good oral hygiene technique to their youngsters. The scientists said that when youngsters approached an adult monkey that was using "floss" to clean its teeth, the adult would often slow down and exaggerate its flossing motions as if to show the younger primate how to do the job properly. Read more about monkey flossing. -
New York Times Falls For Amazon Indians' Fish Story
They say that when you have a hammer in your hand, everything starts to look like a nail. New York Times environmental reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal has written extensively about global climate change. So, when she discovered that a group of Indians in the southern part of the Brazilian Amazon were experiencing a steep decline in the numbers of river fish they were catching, Rosenthal immediately focused on climate change as the culprit. But in viewing the problem through such a narrow lens, the reporter missed the big picture of changing environmental conditions in the upper Xingu River region, which is the fastest-growing corner of the Amazon. For one thing, she ignored the fact that around 10,000 small dams have been built on Xingu River tributaries over the last couple of decades—and that these dams undoubtedly have a major effect on fish populations. Neither did the reporter quote any scientists on climate change and other factors that might be affecting the Upper Xingu as well as the Amazon at large. The researchers interviewed by All About Wildlife.com said she got a lot of things wrong. But her most interesting mistake was to take the Indians at their word when they told her they were teetering on the edge of starvation. According to the American-born Brazilian rancher who accompanied the reporter to the Indians' village, the native people were for the most part just pulling her leg. Read the entire article.-
Outdoor Cats Pose a Major Environmental Threat
Habitat loss is clearly the main threat facing native birds in North America and elsewhere. In fact, some migrant species face shrinking habitat at both ends of their range: In North America, where they breed during the spring and summer, and it Central and South America, where they spend their winters. But, among other problems birds must contend with, the problem of predatory house cats is also a serious one. According to estimates from some conservationists, in North America alone feral felines and pet cats that are allowed to roam outdoors kill around half a billion birds each year. Read the entire article here. -
An International List Of The Top 10 Endangered Species
Unfortunately, there really is not a group of animals that you can say with certainty are the "top 10 endangered species" in the world. That's because the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) lists over 1,100 mammals alone whose status ranges from "Vulnerable" to "Critically Endangered." When making a list, which animals do you choose, and which do you neglect? Organizations that assemble lists of top 10 endangered species tend to pick those species that they are directing the most resources toward saving, or those that they would like to begin working with. The resulting list helps the organization focus on its mission—and also draws public attention and much-needed donations. So when you view our international list of the top 10 endangered species, please keep in mind that this is merely one small group of imperiled animals that we have a fondness for and that we would like to call attention to—and that there are hundreds of other animal species in the world that are just as deserving of the attention. And don't be surprised if the animals on our list change from time to time. -
Koalas Struggle To Survive As A Species
Australian wildlife researchers recently made a disturbing discovery: Their population estimates for the number of wild koalas were more than 20 percent higher than the number of the koalas that actually remain in the country's forests. Revised estimates now put the population of Australia's emblematic animal at no higher than 80,000, and perhaps fewer than 50,000. The main cause is habitat loss, but other problems include run-ins with automobiles and dogs, as well as apparent global-warming-induced changes in the koala's main food source. Read more about koalas here. -
One Third Of All Amphibian Species Are In Danger Of Extinction
Amphibians—including frogs and salamanders—are among the most imperiled species on the planet, according to conservationists. In fact, some scientists say that as many as a third of all amphibian species are in danger of going extinct. Along with many of the same environmental problems faced by other types of animals, amphibians are also threatened by a fast-spreading and fatal fungal disease. More about the amphibian crisis here. -
Climate Change Hits Arctic Species, Including Polar Bears and Walruses
Global climate change is affecting the Arctic and Antarctic more dramatically and more quickly than any other parts of the earth. In the case of the Arctic, in recent years there has been less ice in the oceans at the top of the world—and the change is bringing hardship to some of the species that depend on ice for their survival. Polar bears, for instance, hunt seals on the ocean ice; when ice is scarce, the bears find it difficult to find food. Walruses, for their part, raise their young on ice. They also travel on the ice, allowing it to carry them to constantly fresh foraging grounds. US wildlife officials are currently looking a ways of helping species that are suffering due to climatic changes in their once-frozen environment. Read more about global climate change and polar bears as well as more about how Pacific walruses are affected by global warming. -
Orangutans Losing Habitat
Indonesia has a number of volunteer-run facilities for taking care of orphaned and injured orangutans. Unfortunately, the number of orphans has been increasing over the past few years due to conflicts between orangutans and humans in the wild. Most of these conflicts come as people push deeper into the orangutan's rainforest habitat, cutting trees for timber and clearing vast tracts to make way for palm-oil plantations. The goal of most orangutan rehabilitation facilities is to prepare the apes to return to the wild. But with so much Indonesian forest falling under the axe and the chainsaw, it is getting extremely difficult to find a place to release rehabilitated orangutans once they are ready to go. Read our full article here. -
Vampire Chickadees
This strange story comes from Eastern Europe, where researchers report murderous behavior among a bird that otherwise looks and acts a lot like an American chickadee. According to scientists working in Hungary, during the dead of winter when food is scarce, the bird, called the great tit, will sometimes enter caves full of hibernating bats—and kill some of the bats by pecking their heads open. The birds then drag the bats out of the cave and eat them. Read the rest. -
Rhino Poaching Accelerates
The "urban legend" about rhino poaching is that it occurs because men in some Asian countries believe that eating a dash of powdered rhino horn will make them more potent. In fact, Asian folk healers use rhino horn because they think it will cure fevers. But in the end, it makes little difference to the rhinos, since they are just as dead regardless of the motives behind their illegal slaughter. All rhinos—including the two species (black and white) in Africa and three (Indian, Javan, Sumatran) in Asia are either critically endangered or threatened. And a recent upsurge of rhino poaching seems likely to push them all toward extinction. Click here to read our full story on rhino poaching. -
Don't Accessorize Your Life With Wildlife
With the possible exception of a few very common tropical fish species, it is almost never a good idea to turn a wild animal into a pet. Not only do wild animals simply belong in their own habitat, but collection for the pet trade is pushing many vulnerable species onto top 10 endangered species lists and closer to the brink of extinction in the wild. In response to concerns by conservation organizations, the US Fish & Wildlife Service is currently considering giving Endangered Species Act protection to a number of non-US tropical bird species in order to prevent them from being imported into the country. Read our full article about endangered species and the pet trade. -
Can Bats And Wind Turbines Coexist?
The downside to the worldwide push toward wind power as an alternative energy source is that the the huge turbines on wind farms kill birds and bats. Not only do the creatures die in collisions with the spinning turbine blades, but they can be killed without even coming into contact with the devices: the change in air pressure explodes their lungs. At least in the case of bats, however, a team of researchers has come up with a tentative solution. It appears that certain radar frequencies may discourage the flying mammals from going near the windmills. Read more here. Inbreeding Threatens The Siberian Tiger
About 500 Siberian tigers remain the the wild, all of them in Far Eastern Russia. Normally, a population of this size would be genetically viable—that is, it would contain a large-enough gene pool to continue producing healthy, adaptable tigers for the rest of eternity, provided they were protected from poachers and other human-related dangers. However, researchers recently made the unsettling discover that the Siberian—or Amur—tiger gene-pool is actually quite small, with a diversity of genes that would normally be found in a population no larger than 30 animals. The problem undoubtedly stems from the fact that all of today's Amur tigers are the descendants of the 40 or so tigers that were all that remained of the species in the 1930's before the Russian (Soviet) government began to protect them. Read the whole article here.Pink Dolphin Video
Which animals live in rainforests? Pink dolphins do. Recently we've been receiving a lot of top 10 endangered species questions about rainforest animals, particularly the pink dolphins of the Amazon. In this excellent video, Jean-Michel Cousteau explains a great deal about these mysterious aquatic Amazon rainforest creatures.Pythons And Floridians Stalk One Another
South Florida has been invaded by aliens (otherwise known as invasive species): As many as 100,000 Burmese pythons are slithering through the Everglades, gobbling up native wildlife and posing a potential threat to humans—especially small, slow-moving ones. In response, the state recently began issuing permits to hunt them in hopes of at least reducing the invasive population. But has this measure come too late? Read the full article here.
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