Zoos: Savior For Some & A Learning Tool For All

Zoos are one of the most visited things in the world. They house exotic animals that otherwise we may never be able to see in our lifetimes. It gives us to see the Elephants from the African Savanna, the creatures of the Amazon Rain forest, the Polar Bears of the Arctic and many more. Although these are enjoyable some people find them unethical because it puts these animals on show for us to see. I’m going to say that the zoos are very important to us and the animals themselves. Hers some reasons: 1. The zoos help their respected populations thrive a) Endangered animals in the wild have a chance to survive, but sometimes it’s not always possible for them to survive. So they get taken to zoos where they are bred and those animals are slowly released back into their respected environments. 2. They teach people the importance of conservation b) Our society today is what I would call a “one and done” society. We never like to conserve or reuse something. Once something has been used and something new comes out we immediately throw away the “old” thing and get the new one. Now I have been guilty of this too. The zoos can teach us to conserve these animals because once we lose them there is no getting them back 3. We can Research and learn from them c) Scientists utilize zoos to their full extent so they can study these animals and they can learn how to better protect them. Zoos give scientists a chance to study them if they can’t make it half way around the world to study them in their natural habitats. Zoos although controversial at times, the pros outweigh the cons and their effect can help save many species that are in danger of dying out and maybe just maybe we might learn something from them. Learn how the Bronx Zoo in New York City is changing the way zoos save animals, by clicking on this link

Snow Leopard

The Snow Leopard: Mystery of the Mountains

The Snow Leopard is one of the most mysterious animals in the world because it live up in the high peaks in the Himalayas and in remote areas where small groups of people live. It is seldom seen (1) because it lives in the high in the mountains (2) it is endangered and is in danger of going extinct. These animals are found in 12 countries including, China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, and Mongolia. They have lost their habitat and are killed for fear of killing farmers livestock. They are also on the decline because of the illegal poaching and skinning of their furs for the illegal trade and Chinese medicine. Some fast facts about these animals is that: 1. They can leap up to an astounding 50 ft 2. They can kill an animal three times their own size 3. They use their tales for balance and keep themselves warm during the winters. They have been known to eat mountain ibex as well as smaller game, such as marmots, hares, and game birds. One snow leopard is reported to have eaten five blue sheep, nine Tibetan woolly hares, twenty-five marmots, five domestic goats, one domestic sheep, and fifteen birds in a single year. This maybe one of the reason they have been hunted by the farmers due to the danger to their livestock. The snow leopard by nature will hunt them because they are opportunists and will take any opportunity to get food and if that means livestock then by god they'll get them. These rare and magnificent creatures need to be preserved because once we lose them, there is no bringing them back.

The Amur Leopard

The African Wild Dog

Intro. To Endangered Animals

Endangered animals/plants are a huge part of our environment. They can provide us with a wealth of information and we can learn a lot from these creatures/plants. An example of this is that they can provide us with medical knowledge. These animals make quite a contribution to biodiversity and they keep the environment in natural benefit. If you don’t know what an endangered animal/plant is then here you go; an endangered animal is animal that is under the threat of extinction. These animals range from least concern all the way to critically endangered. Animals that are least concern are animals that have either been upgraded to this condition or it would be very difficult for them to be become endangered. This includes the American alligator, which at one point was endangered, and the brown bear. Animals that are near threatened are animals that could be in trouble of becoming endangered because of a declining population, but isn’t quite that in trouble yet. Two animals that are examples of this include Jaguar and the Beluga. The Jaguar is losing its habitat to deforestation, and the governments of Brazil and Peru are working to preserve the rain forest. Vulnerable animals are animals that could go extinct in the distant future. African elephants are a great example of this because their population has been declining in the past decades due to poaching for their ivory tusks. Another example is the polar bear. The polar bear is considered a marine mammal because it spends so much time on the ice and in the water, but recently its territory (the ice) has begun to melt and it’s losing territory. Endangered animals are animals that could go extinct in the intermediate future and there is a very could chance that they will go extinct. A good example of this is the African Wild Dog. The African Wild Dog is one of the rarest animals on the planet with an estimated 3000-5000 individuals left in the wild. These animals have made their way on to the list because of accidental and targeted killings by humans, viral diseases like rabies and distemper, habitat loss and competition with larger predators like lions. Another good example of this is the Snow Leopard, there is believed to be less than 7000 individuals left in the wild. We are the main reason for their decline because we have hunted and poached them, as well as we compete with them for the same food. Critically endangered animals are animalsthat probably could go extinct in the near future. A very good example of this is the Amur Leopard. There are only about 30 Amur leopards left in the wild. The main reason is because they hunted for their spotted coat. Another very good example of this is the South China Tiger. There are only 30-80 individuals left in the wild, but they are actually believed to be extinct in the wild because of habitat loss. We need to help try to preserve these animals for future generations because if we don’t act now we could loose these magnificent animals forever. WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.