Top Ten Endangered species 2010

With the find of the Asian Unicorn I was inspired to make a list of the top ten endangered spaces with the help of www.journeyetc.com... to provide lots of the verbiage. Please enjoy the beauty of these animals because one day they may all be gone forever.

The Pinta Island Tortoise – This hard shelled turtle is more then just rare, he is unique. Being the only one remaining alive, Lonesome George remains the sole survivor of the even diminishing species of Great Galapagos tortoises. Researchers are so desperate to find a female of the species that they are offering $10,000 to anyone who comes forward to offer a chance at saving the Pinta Island tortoise. George is estimated to be 60–90 years of age, and is in good health.

Lonesome George is the one that stood out the most for me. can you imagine being the last of your kind.

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The Yangtze River Dolphin – This species of dolphin is found exclusively in China, and given the record expansion of China’s economic and social system, it has caused the Yangtze to become all but extinct as it has to compete for it’s habitat and limited resources of food with an enormous population. A survey in 1999 estimated the population of river dolphins was close to just 13 animals. Until recently This most endangered Dolphin has been declared officially extinct following an intensive survey of its natural habitat.

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The Vancouver Island Marmot – This little furry resident of the Vancouver mountains is getting some help from local conservationists to try to boost the numbers back up before it’s too late. Luckily, the little guys born raised in captivity are producing great numbers, and so look as though the species will be saved after all Sadly, a population estimated to be over 300 animals in the mid-1980s declined to less than 75 animals by 2001, 25 of which were the last remaining in the wild.

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The Seychelles Sheath-tailed Bat – No one is completely sure what is killing off the Sheath-tailed bat, and actually so little is known about their general patterns and behavior that no one knows what to do to increase their numbers either. But with fewer then 100 being reported in their native home of Madagascar, it’s clean something has to be done soon.

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The Javan Rhino – The Javan isn’t the only species of Rhino that is quickly dying out, but it is the one that has the fastest reducing numbers, with less then 60 remaining in their native habitats across Indonesia and Vietnam. The Javan Rhinoceros is a herbivorous browser that belongs to the order of the Perissodactyla and is one of the three species of Rhinos native to Asia. Currently it lives in the dense tropical rain forest of Ujung Kulon (and maybe Cat Tien NP), but was once very common throughout IndoChina and was often spotted in grasslands and floodplain in historic times. The biggest population is currently located on Ujung Kulon Peninsula, Western Java. The population has been stable due to conservation efforts, but numbers don't seem to be increasing.

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The Hispid Hare – Being one of the only hares of it’s kind, the Hispid is a rabbit covered in bristly fur that lives in the Himalayan foothills around Nepal. There are now well under 100 in existence, and the numbers are continuing to decrease, even as conservationists attempt to breed them in captivity, an action that has so far proven unsuccessful.

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The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat – Located in Australia in the more tropical areas of the continent, the Hairy-nosed Wombat’s habitat has been decreasing, and so with it has it’s numbers. With less then 100 counted in the most recent environmental studies, massive funding by the local government has led to a huge conservation effort.

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The Dwarf Water Buffalo – This bovine indigenous to the Philippines has seen a shocking reduction in the last hundred years. In the early 1900’s there was an estimated 10,000 alive in the region of Mindoro, and yet in 2002 they had found there to be somewhere between 50 – 200 alive. Illegal poaching still continues as the species dies out.

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The Iberian Lynx – This tiny wildcat lives in the Andalusia region of Spain’s Iberian Peninsula. After it was found to have been killed down to just under 100 in 2001, the Spanish government began funding a mass conservation effort to save the species. The first three cubs born in captivity were announced in 2005, and from there success in further breeding has raised hopes that all is not lost for the Lynx.

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The Red Wolf – Located in the southeastern United States regions, the red wolf is one of the smaller wolf species of the US. After a dramatic decrease to only 30 living Red Wolves, conservation efforts across the country were funded in earnest, and 200 were bred in captivity. Today, just over a hundred live, giving hope that they will be saved.

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Thanks for that thread. Unfortunately, our development is poison to our planet. What is also sad is hypocrisy of an average citizen, a benefactor of said development - one who abandoned his responsibilities as a sentient human being in exchange for imaginary rights as a citizen.

Just recently I found out Japanese wolf was extinct for a good 100 years, that was a shocker. Every day It is becoming harder for people to abandon materialistic pleasures provided by corporations in exchange for saving species...

I really was unaware of most of this list being endangered.
I will post a link to this thread in a thread called : The Shocking Reality of Modern Day Extinction.

Where I talk about the Holocene extinction event. and whenever I come across another endangered species I'll post it there. You will find many other animals in there, extinct or endangered. Including the Yangtse Dolphin.

It is shocking I only knew about 1 on this list. Sad...

S&F

Edit to say I knew about more of them actually.

Originally posted by Sinter Klaas

I really was unaware of most of this list being endangered.
I will post a link to this thread in a thread called : The Shocking Reality of Modern Day Extinction.

Where I talk about the Holocene extinction event. and whenever I come across another endangered species I'll post it there. You will find many other animals in there, extinct or endangered. Including the Yangtse Dolphin.

It is shocking I only knew about 1 on this list. Sad...

S&F

Edit to say I knew about more of them actually.

edit on 9/17/2010 by Sinter Klaas because: (no reason given)

I really fell bad about Lonesome George. having the last turtel and no means to reperduce it is sad.

Polar bears are rapidly going extinct too.

So is the hawksbill turtle, the sea turtle in Finding Nemo I think. But the leatherback turtle is the most endangered besides Lonesome George's case. The firefly is endangered too. The extreme weather is also endangering the monarch butterfly, which is the most popular butterfly I know of. Interesting, now that I realized I don't see as many as before. In fact I only saw maybe 3 this year (I live in FL) but 10 years ago it was common to see a 100.

Most of the endangered creatures going extinct are our fault.