9 Most Threatened Animal Species ...

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People love their tuna, whether it’s fresh or canned. Due to the high demand for tuna, this large ocean-going fish is often over-fished. The market for tuna is very high in Japan. For example, a tuna weighing more than 400 pounds will go for hundreds of thousands of dollars on the market. Only recently have aquaculturists succeeded in breeding and raising captive Bluefin Tuna.

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Poaching and deforestation have caused the number of wild Javan Rhinoceros to drop down to less than 60 animals. These large mammals are very close to becoming extinct. The Vietnam War took out a lot of the habitat where these rhinos live. The fewer rhinos there are, the less genetic diversity there will be, which tends to increase the chances of these animals dying from disease and too much inbreeding.

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Forests where tigers live are being cut down at an alarming rate. Most people imagine tigers as living in an area similar to that of the lions, but this isn’t so. Deforestation isn’t the only issue threatening the existence of tigers. The climate change is also reducing their natural habitat. Poachers are known for capturing and killing tigers as well, due to the market that still exists for tiger skins and using various parts of the tiger’s body for Asian medicines.

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As a hunter, the penguin requires a lot of ocean to find enough food to eat. As the ocean waters become warmer, the types of food Magellanic Penguins eat has to be found further and further away. Penguins can swim great distances, but if they are swimming for many miles to find their food, then they end up using all their energy to get back home again, thus canceling out the energy they gained from eating their catch.

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Efforts to save the Giant Panda have been put forth for many decades. The geography of China causes these large animals to be very isolated from one another, thus making it difficult to interact and mate with one another. Even with the many years of trying to get captive pandas to successfully reproduce, there are still only 2,500 pandas living in the wild.

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These turtles head to land when it’s time to lay their eggs. The melting ice and rising waters are making their nesting sites become less inhabitable as the years progress. Commercial fishermen also accidentally capture these turtles in their nets.

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Warm temps cause the ice in the Arctic to consist of smaller and smaller sheets. These sheets of ice are the hunting grounds for polar bears. The more this ice melts, the smaller the hunting ground becomes. Supposedly this rapid loss of ice means the polar bear could easily become extinct in the next 100 years.

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This is yet another species of animal that depends on sheets of ice. However, the Pacific Walrus doesn’t use the ice as hunting grounds. Instead, these walrus raise their young on them and take a rest from hunting in the water. If all the ice disappears, there won’t be any place for the walrus to hang out and rear their pups.

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Poachers and destruction of their habitat in Africa have caused the number of Mountain Gorillas to drop down to 720. Conservation efforts have increased the numbers in the Mountain Gorilla population slightly, but not by much. The constant wars in Africa are responsible for much of the destruction of the habitat where these gorillas live.

I hope this list of the 9 most threatened animal species supply you with some insight as to just how many animals are slowly disappearing off of the planet. It’s hard for some people to genuinely care, unless they are affected first-hand by the dwindling numbers of each of these animals. Living in an area where the animals mentioned above are only seen at the zoo, it can be difficult to make other people aware of what is going on. Do you think the efforts to save these threatened species are helping? What more could be done?

Top Photo Credit: jaden_alexander