Endangered Animals in the Mountains

Endangered Animals in the Mountains

Nonfiction Book Group 7th Grade Accokeek Academy Brianna Elumba, Callista Elumba

Iberian Lynx

Bengal tigers are apex predators, meaning that they play a big role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. As the top of the food chain, these tigers keep other animal populations under control, upholding the balance of vegetation growth and herbivores. 

In 2002, there were less than 100 Iberian lynx left in the wild. Now, although the number has increased, and there are now over 400, the Iberian lynx population is still declining. As the world’s most endangered feline species, it is important to protect the lynx, especially considering what they do for our ecosystem.

- Report anybody you know or see selling Bengal Tiger skins or body parts. - Donate to a fundraiser with a goal of helping the Bengal Tigers. - Sign petitions trying to save bengal tigers; signing different petitions cover stopping problems like tiger trade and preventing deforestation. - Spread awareness through social media. You can post links to interesting articles on the bengal tiger situation and why the should be saved so people are encouraged to donate to an organization.

Overall

Bengal tigers play an important role in the world, keeping the ecosystem in balance. Bengal tigers going extinct would mean that an entire ecosystem would become out of balance, leaving the population of animals bengal tigers hunted to grow, leading to an overpopulation of a species. Leaving bengal tigers in danger leaves the world in danger, so it is very important to protect them.

There are many causes to why the Iberian lynx are endangered. One of those reasons is the decreasing rabbit population. The main prey of the Iberian lynx are rabbits. But epidemics, such as myxomatosis, have been dropping rabbit populations, which has also affected the lynx population in turn, as they have less of their primary food source.

Sources

Snow Leopards: 1. <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/are-snow-leopards-endangered-5072563">https://www.treehugger.com/are-snow-leopards-endangered-5072563</a> 2. <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/snow-leopards">https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/snow-leopards</a> 3. <a href="https://snowleopard.org/tackling-illegal-trade-and-poaching-of-snow-leopards/">https://snowleopard.org/tackling-illegal-trade-and-poaching-of-snow-leopards/</a> Red Pandas: 1. <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/red-pandas-endangered-5024939">https://www.treehugger.com/red-pandas-endangered-5024939</a> 2. <a href="https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/why-are-red-pandas-endangered.php">https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/why-are-red-pandas-endangered.php</a> 3.<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/wildlife-watch-red-pandas-laos-pet-trade">https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/wildlife-watch-red-pandas-laos-pet-trade</a> Bengal Tigers: 1.<a href="https://www.worldlandtrust.org/species/mammals/bengal-tiger/">https://www.worldlandtrust.org/species/mammals/bengal-tiger/</a> 2. <a href="https://vanishingtreasures.org/portfolio/bengal-tiger/#:~:text=Habitat%20loss%2C%20prey%20depletion%2C%20poaching,huge%20threat%20to%20their%20survival.">https://vanishingtreasures.org/portfolio/bengal-tiger/#:~:text=Habitat%20loss%2C%20prey%20depletion%2C%20poaching,huge%20threat%20to%20their%20survival.</a> 3. <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/news/a-spotlight-on-the-bengal-tiger-a-story-of-the-soul-of-india.html">https://www.worldatlas.com/news/a-spotlight-on-the-bengal-tiger-a-story-of-the-soul-of-india.html</a> 4. <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Help-Save-Tigers">https://www.wikihow.com/Help-Save-Tigers</a> Iberian Lynx: 1. <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/bringing-back-the-iberian-lynx">https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/bringing-back-the-iberian-lynx</a> 2.<a href="https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/wildlife_practice/profiles/mammals/iberian_lynx/ibelynx_threats/">https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/wildlife_practice/profiles/mammals/iberian_lynx/ibelynx_threats/</a> 3. <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2076921-iberian-lynx-beats-extinction-as-cats-are-released-to-the-wild/#:~:text=The%20Iberian%20lynx%20has%20an,preserve%20it%20for%20future%20generations.%E2%80%9D">https://www.newscientist.com/article/2076921-iberian-lynx-beats-extinction-as-cats-are-released-to-the-wild/#:~:text=The%20Iberian%20lynx%20has%20an,preserve%20it%20for%20future%20generations.%E2%80%9D</a> 4. <a href="https://www.blueskywildlife.com/iberian-lynx-conservation-spain/#:~:text=Like%20other%20top%20predators%2C%20the,species%20still%20found%20in%20Europe.">https://www.blueskywildlife.com/iberian-lynx-conservation-spain/#:~:text=Like%20other%20top%20predators%2C%20the,species%20still%20found%20in%20Europe.</a> Asian Elephants: 1. <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/asian-elephants">https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/asian-elephants</a> 2. <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/research-and-collections/wild-at-heart-the-plight-of-elephants-in-thailand/asian-elephants-threats-and-solutions">https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/research-and-collections/wild-at-heart-the-plight-of-elephants-in-thailand/asian-elephants-threats-and-solutions</a> 3. <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/elephant">https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/elephant</a> 4. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/07/11/330666467/elephant-featured-in-film-alexander-killed-by-thai-poachers">https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/07/11/330666467/elephant-featured-in-film-alexander-killed-by-thai-poachers</a> 5. <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/ways-to-help-elephants-4864223">https://www.treehugger.com/ways-to-help-elephants-4864223</a> Greater One-Horned Rhino: 1. <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/greater-one-horned-rhino">https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/greater-one-horned-rhino</a> 2.<a href="https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/rhinoceros/asian_rhinos/indian_rhinoceros/">https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/rhinoceros/asian_rhinos/indian_rhinoceros/</a>

Snow Leopards

Along with snow leopards, people kill animals like wild goats and sheep. Snow leopards typically hunt these animals, so the lack of wild goats and sheep give snow leopards less to eat. 

Since 1986, snow leopards have become endangered. And it's society's fault. In the world, there are only about 4,080 - 6,590 snow leopards in the wild. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) classified snow leopards as vulnerable, meaning that the risk of their extinction is less urgent, but still in need of help.

As well as poaching snow leopards and their prey, humans build homes and factories in the habitats of snow leopards. 

Another problem snow leopards face is climate change. The temperatures of their habitats, the mountains of Central Asia are rising. More than half of the remaining snow leopards in the wild are threatened with climate change. 

What is the Cause?

Poachers kill snow leopards for their fur. People can get up to $1,500 for a snow leopard pelt. Another problem is snow leopards decline in prey.

Asian Elephants don’t only help the environment, they help other animals, too. Due to their large size, elephants create pathways through the dense forests they travel through. These pathways in the forest then create access for other wildlife. Also, when there isn’t any surface water, elephants will dig for water, which allows themselves as well as other creatures to gain water access.

Greater One Horned Rhino

By the start of the 20th century, greater one horned rhinos nearly went extinct from hunting for sport or killing as agriculture pests. In 1975, only 600 of these rhinos remained. Today, while the numbers of the population have increased to about 3,700, it is still threatened with extinction. 

How You Can Help Asian Elephants

- Don't buy, sell, or wear ivory. Most illegal ivory sold around the world comes from recently killed elephants. Not purchasing items made with ivory, such as jewelry, carved trinkets, and dominoes, gives the dealers the message that the material is not welcomed.&nbsp; - Buy coffee and wood which are elephant-friendly. Plantations that destroy elephant habitats are where coffee and timber crops are often grown. - Support conservation efforts. . Helping to support the organizations that work towards elephant conservation is another good way to help the elephants.

What is the cause?

Despite everything Asian elephants do for the environment, as well as other animals, people still continue to make it hard for the elephants to live. People take the elephants’ habitat, shoot them, poison them, and leave them to die before the age of 5. If we consider everything Asian elephants do for us, for example, keeping our ecosystem healthy, we will start to realize how much the elephants mean to the world.

Hunting is a big factor in the greater one-horned rhino's decline. During the last century, the rhinos were hunted for sport by Europeans and Asians. Poaching for these rhinos' horns is still a serious threat. Even though it is illegal, the rhino horns are still used in some traditional Asian medicines.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Page 1: Introduction Pages 2 - 4: Snow Leopards Pages 5 - 7: Red Pandas Pages 8 - 10: Bengal Tigers Pages 11 - 13: Iberian Lynxes Pages 14 - 16: Asian Elephants Pages 17 - 19: Greater One-Horned Rhinos Page 20: Conclusion Pages 21 - 22: Sources

There are many different endangered animal species living in the mountains. All six of them (in this book,) are endangered for different reasons, but are all important for the Earth, by helping the environment as well as different animals and ecosystems. However, by thinking how each animal better our world, you might start to understand why it’s worth it to save every endangered species.

Another cause of the Iberian lynx endangerment is habitat loss. People build roads, and railways, contributing to the loss of the Iberian lynx distribution area, creating barriers between the different populations, as well as obstructing the exchange of individuals among them. Between the years 1960 to 1990, Iberian lynxes experienced an 80% loss in their range. The Iberian lynx population is decreasing also because of illegal hunting. Hunters targeted Iberian lynxes because of their valuable fur and meat. Although Iberian lynxes were legally protected against hunting since the early 1970s, they are still shot, or caught in traps or snares, although sometimes the traps are meant for other animals. Despite all these reasons why Iberian lynxes are engendered, there is still another cause; car hits. People have constructed high speed roads and highways, which split up the lynxes’ habitat. In 2014, 22 lynxes’ deaths were caused cars. 22 may not seem like much, but considering the small population of this species, this number is very high. In 2017, 58 Iberian lynxes were reported as being found dead, and 31 of them had been hit by motor vehicles.&nbsp;

Why Should You Help Save the Iberian Lynx?

In the Mediterranean ecosystem, the Iberian lynx plays an important role as a predator, and are what scientists call a “keystone species.” This is because Iberian lynxes help to control the populations of the species that they prey on, such as foxes, moongeese, and genets.

The Iberian lynx species also has a lot of cultural importance, because it is one of the only cat species which still can be found in Europe. Also, the Iberian lynxes have been becoming increasingly important in wildlife tourism. This is because lots of people come to Spain so that they can see the lynxes for themselves.

- Donate to a lynx charity; the money you donate could be used to buy camera traps to watch the lynxes. The donations could also be used to afford more radio collars, which are used to monitor the lynxes that wander into new territories. They also help to prevent poaching lynxes.

Whether it’s because of loss of food supply or habitat loss, the extinction of the Iberian lynxes would be very bad. The loss of the lynxes would affect Spanish culture, as the Iberian lynx is the one of the only cat species still found in Europe. The ecosystem would be out of balance, as the Iberian lynxes were predators, and kept control of the many different species they preyed on. Helping the culture of Spain, as well as protecting our ecosystem is important, so protecting the Iberian lynxes is important as well.

	Another reason why the red panda population is decreasing is because of poaching and hunting. From the IUCN, it is reported that illegal smuggling and poaching appears to have increased, because hunters kill red pandas for their pelt and meat. According to the WWF, red panda fur hats have been sold in Bhutan. Some hunters capture red pandas to sell them as illegal pets. But sometimes the hunters don’t catch red pandas intentionally. Sometimes, red pandas get caught in traps that were set up to get other animals, like deer and wild&nbsp;pigs.

	Red pandas also help balance out the ecosystem. Naturally, red pandas have their own predators. This means that if red pandas ever went extinct, it would affect the survival of their predators that rely on red pandas' for their food. Lastly, red pandas feed on bamboo plants, which keep the bamboo in control. If red pandas go extinct, bamboo plants may start growing out of control.

	Sadly, there is yet another cause of the red pandas’ decreasing population. As established, people bring livestock into the forests where red pandas live, and are protected by dogs. If the dogs attack the red pandas, and aren’t vaccinated, they can carry canine distemper, which is fatal to red pandas.

What Can You Do To Help?

Red panda in a cage, to be illegally sold as a pet

- Spread awareness by donating to a fundraiser. - Take part in an ecotourism. This is a a tourism directed toward natural and exotic environments; intended to support conservation efforts and observe wildlife. - Another way to help red pandas is to use less paper. People are cutting bamboo down to make paper. Using less paper would mean less bamboo being cut down, giving red pandas more food supply.

Why Is This Important?

Since people have been poaching red pandas, and cutting down their habitat, red pandas have become endangered. Now, since the red pandas are in danger, they need our help to be protected. Protecting red pandas is beneficial to not only other species, but to our environment and ecosystem, too, meaning that saving the red pandas would be beneficial to us, as well as our world.

	 Conservation biologists use the presence of red pandas to indicate the overall health of their ecosystem. Since red pandas share a habitat, which is the Eastern Himalayan Broadleaf Forest, with other threatened species of mammals. Protecting the red pandas’ habitat also means protecting the home of various other animals.

Conclusion

As you read, snow leopards, red pandas, bengal tigers, iberian lynxes, asian elephants and greater one-horned rhinos all contribute to the Earth in different ways. However, while being endangered, there are many ways to help their populations grow. By trying to help these animals, we are also helping the environment, as well as our society. 

Dedication

Dedicated to our parents, who introduced us to reading and helped grow our love for books.

Another cause for the reduction of greater one-horned rhinos is habitat loss. As the human population keeps growing, there is more need for land. This threatens the species, because many of the protected areas for rhinos have reached the limit of how many individuals they can support. This leads to human animal conflicts, since rhinos frequently leave the boundaries of the protected areas and go to surrounding villages. And because of this, the rhinos reportedly kill several people each year In India and Nepal. 

In addition, greater one-horned rhinos are a symbol of national pride in the countries they live in. This inspires environmental stewardship among other local countries.

How You Can Help Greater One-Horned Rhinos

Greater One-Horned Rhino with missing horn

- Spread the word; you can use different social media to help share the problem with the greater one-horned rhinos population. This would help other be more aware of the situation and may encourage them to donate to charities helping the rhinos. - Donate to a charity. Some organizations are using donations to help the greater one-horned rhinos. Donating to those organizations would help raise money for the rhinos.

Why Greater One-Horned Rhinos Matter

While the population of greater one-horned rhinos has greatly increased since the 20th century, the chances of the species going extinct are still high, because people still kill greater one-horned rhinos either for sport of medicines. This is why it is important to protect and help these rhinos in the best way we can, in order to continue helping the environment.

Greater one-horned rhinos share their homes with other species of plants and animals that are valuable. So, by protecting the rhinos and their homes, people are also protecting those other species of plants and animals.

Asian Elephant

In the last three elephant generations, the Asian elephant numbers have roughly halved. Today, there are less than 52,000 Asian Elephants in the wild, and are listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List. Protecting the Asian elephants is important, especially if we want to keep our environment, as well as other animals, safe and healthy.

Another threat to Asian elephants is their conflicts with humans. Sometimes, the elephants go into settled areas after straying out of the forest. When this happens, they sometimes destroy property, trample crops, and sometimes even kill people. Most of the time, people deal with this with gunfire or poison.

Lastly, young elephants are captured from the wild. People do this to supply tourist and entertainment industries. When this happens, the mothers and other female elephants that attempt to protect the young elephants are killed. The young elephants which are captured are socially isolated or treated cruelly, and die before the age of five.&nbsp;

Why are Asian Elephants Endangered?

An Asian elephant's biggest threat is habitat loss and fragmentation. Humans have cleared large areas of forest, and have rapidly populated plains and river valleys, so elephants have been pushed to less suitable remnants of forests. And although the Asian elephants are in less accessible habitats, they are still being assaulted by loggers, developers, and poachers. Habitat fragmentation forces elephant populations to divide into small isolated groups, putting elephants at a risk of inbreeding.

Why is this Important?

Asian elephants play a big part in our environment. As the elephants eat vast amounts of vegetation every day, they spread seeds around as they go. Asian elephants also help to shape the vegetation of the Asian landscape. In forests, the elephants make clearings and gaps in the trees, which lets sunlight in to reach new seedlings. This helps plants grow, and the forest to regenerate naturally.

Why It's Important to Save Snow Leopards

Red Pandas

Part of a snow leopard diet is mountain sheep and goats. Without snow leopards hunting and eating these animals, resulting in herbivore populations increasing. This would cause changes in vegetation, affecting the other wildlife species that live in the area. 

As of 2008, the reddish - brown raccoon - like animal, the red panda, has been listed as "endangered" on the IUCN red list. At that time, the red panda population was estimated to be about 10,000. Today, in 2022, there are less than 10,000 red pandas left in the wild, and sadly, we are the cause.

Plus, the same landscape that these animals live in provides important resources for the people living there, like food, medicine, wood (for shelter), heat and fuel. So if we protect snow leopards, then we are protecting the environments in the area and all of the people who live and rely on it.

How You Can Help

- Be a good tourist by not leaving litter or trash behind when visiting a snow leopard habitat. - Don't buy products made from snow leopard skin or report anybody selling those products. - Donate to a charity that is helping snow leopards. - Spread the word. You can tell other people about what is happening to snow leopards and encourage to help.

The Cause of Endangerment

Snow leopards help the world in a lot of ways. But as a result of snow leopards becoming endangered, they could eventually become extinct if we don't do anything. We need snow leopards if we want to help the Earth.

	The main threat to a red pandas’ survival is habitat loss. When people move into the high-altitude forests where red pandas live, the people clear the forests for housing, commercial development, farming, and mining. They build roads, as well as let livestock grave in the forests where they compete for bamboo with red pandas. The people that move into the red pandas' areas collect bamboo, which makes up about 98% of a red panda's diet.

Bengal Tigers

Another animal that has become endangered in 2008 is the bengal tiger. Right now, there are fewer than 2,000 bengal tigers left in the wild. Most sources agree that all tigers in the wild now live in just 7% of their original historical range.

And as the human population continues growing, the people need new places to live. When people build new homes in different habitats, it reduces the amount of wild habitat for bengal tigers. More people also means that more food will be needed. Humans sometimes hunt and kill the same animals/ prey the bengal tigers rely on to eat and survive.

Another problem bengal tigers have to face is climate change. Climate change for bengal tigers may result in changes to the physical environment. For example, seasonal water scarcity in areas of Bhutan (where some bengal tigers live,) is forcing the tigers to move closer to human settlements. This increases the dangers of human-wildlife conflicts. 

Hunting, as well as (human) population growth are the main threats to these tigers. Bengal Tigers are hunted and poached for trophies, their body parts or skins. Bengal tigers are also hunted if they prey on domestic livestock. This means they hunt animals that are raised by humans for their benefits, like food. They are labeled as ¨pests¨ in some areas because of this.

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