Animnal Extinction

Ever since the dinosaur age animals have been becoming extinct. In most ways they have been affecting human life greatly. Ranging from the resources the animals provide or how they taste depends on how fast these animals become extinct. Extinction is something that humans can prevent in most cases, so they should get right on top of things right away.

Extinction as most people know it as, is a wipe out of a particular species off the face of the planet. Most animals are not as important to us as others, but in the food chain every animal plays a role. Most animals that we know today to be extinct have been killed off by humans. Due to over harvesting, habitat destruction, Islandisation, pollution, and the introduction of alien species we managed to ruin any possibilities of seeing these animals again.

Over harvesting is one of the biggest problems that causes the animals to become extinct. “As we enter the year 2000 man is currently over harvesting the worlds resources of animal and plant life. In fact, man (one species) is currently harvesting about half of all animal and plant life on the planet. Trees are currently being removed 10 times faster than new growth and in the sea 70% of fish species are being harvested faster than the rate at which they can reproduce.”(http://www.zoos.50megs.com/extinct.htm) The second way in which man is contributing to extinction is the introduction of alien species. Primarily animals such as rabbits, rats and cats and numerous predators affect the survival of many of the smaller species. In Australia many of these predators were introduced there and as a result the Australian wildlife, which had no defenses, started to decline or became extinct as a consequence. Habitat destruction has been a problem since ever, and its not getting any better. When an animal’s home is destroyed it has nowhere to go, eat, and survive, so it eventually dies.

Some of you may sit there and say, “What do these animals have to do with us?” But what most of you don’t know is that most of the animals that are becoming extinct, or are already extinct offer a great service to us. “Take for example the continued declining numbers of tigers. The population of tigers in the last century has declined by 95 percent and some fear that they will be extinct by 2010. Tiger bone is in high demand for Chinese medicine and medicine containing tiger parts have been in demand in other parts of the world. It’s not just tigers either. Rare leopards, deer and other animals are also being illegally traded.” (http://www.globalissues.org/EnvIssues/Nature.asp) Due to the low numbers of some of these valuable animals, research must be held back. In 1999 scientists revealed what they believed was the origins of AIDS. The source comes from a type of chimpanzee that is immune to the virus. Unfortunately, logging companies are opening up the forests in which they live in, resulting in a destruction of the chimpanzee’s habitat. Due to small size of the forest, and the small population of the chimpanzees, further AIDS research had to be held back.

The most important aspect of extinction prevention is preserving wildlife habitats. Rainforest land needs to be protected more along with other environmental niches. “Habitat that is already damaged needs to be repaired. People need to join more programs such as agro forestry to create land where local people can live on rather than taking it from primary forests. Try to avoid purchasing products made form endangered species, more than likely they are illegal to begin with. Do not buy exotic animals from pet stores because even though they are domesticated, wild animals were breed with them to gain their existence in stores.” (http://whalonlab.msu.edu/Student_Webpages/2003_EC_Projects/Extinction/prevention.html)

One of my many solutions for this problem would be to build a national park specifically made for these types of animals. This may sound simple but it’s more complex than it seems.