Hobbies And Interests
Endangered Species
An endangered species is any species at risk of becoming extinct in all or part of its territory unless people protect it. The factors that cause the decline of a species include habitat change, environmental contaminants, disease, over-hunting, introduced species and inbreeding. According to the "UXL Encyclopedia of Science," scientists believe that extinctions caused by human activity occur 100 to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate of extinction, such as the time it took for the passing of dinosaurs. However, it is impossible to know the exact number of endangered species because scientists have only described about 1.4 million of the planet's estimated 10 to 100 million species.
Bonobo
Bonobos, or pygmy chimpanzees, are our closest cousins. They are only found in the Congo Basin rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bonobos are generally smaller than chimps with longer legs, shorter arms and a narrower torso. They are also distinguished by their black face, red lips, rounder skull, flatter face and a prominent tail tuft. Bonobos share some behavior with chimps such as living in groups, sleeping in trees and mostly eating fruit and vegetables. However, bonobo groups are typically larger than chimpanzee groups and are dominated by females. Bonobos are less aggressive than chimps and both sexes resolve conflict with sex rather than violence. They are endangered by hunting, human settlement, logging and farming.
African Elephant
African elephants once numbered in the millions. However, their population has been in decline since the mid-1980s. They are endangered by poaching, conflict with humans and habitat destruction. They are important to the African environment because they help maintain habitats for other species. For example, savanna elephants control bush cover, which makes habitat suitable for other browsing and grazing animals. Rain forest elephants encourage new tree growth by creating gaps in the forest canopy. Some plants have seeds that must pass through the elephants digestive tract before they germinate. According to the World Wildlife Fund, about 1/3 of Africa's tree species rely on elephants to spread their seeds.
Tiger
Tigers are the largest species of cat and are found exclusively in Asia and India. They once ranged from Bali to Turkey and as far north as Siberia. Today, the Bali, Caspian and Javan subspecies are extinct and the remaining six subspecies face the same fate, threatened by habitat loss and poaching. The six subspecies are: the Sumatran tiger found exclusively on the island of Sumatra; the South China tiger found in central and eastern China; the Malay tiger found in Thailand and Malaysia; the Indochinese tiger found in Vietnam, China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar; the Bengal tiger found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar; and the Siberian or Amur tiger found in eastern Russia and parts of China.