Transcript Why are species disappearing?

Welcome Wolves! Please . . . .
1. Get out your index card and make
sure your name is on it!!
2. Read the board.
3. Get out a piece of paper for notes
Why are species disappearing?
Hey – if we don’t know why it’s broke, we can’t fix it!
Subsistence Hunting
Hunting to meet
personal need
 Bushmeat in Africa
and South/Central
America
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Commercial hunting
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Poaching = Hunting
the wrong
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Species
At the wrong time
In the wrong amounts
In the wrong places
Superstitious beliefs
“Pest” control
Competition with introduced species
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Chinese Tallow
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Balloon vine
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Fire ants
Scientists estimate that every year in the United States alone,
cats kill 1.4-3.7 billion birds and approximately 12 billion small
mammals, including rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks.
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Feral animals
(escaped from
domestication)
Pollution
DDT – Bald
Eagle/Brown pelican
 Beluga whale – PCB’s
 Biomagnification –
accumulation of
toxins as they move
up the food chain
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Pet Trade
Slow loris – not a good pet. Just no.
Habitat Loss
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Similar terms:
◦ Habitat alteration
◦ Habitat
fragmentation
Check for understanding
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What is the #1 reason that species become
endangered?
How is a superstitious belief about an animal
different from the medicinal argument for
protecting a species?
What is biomagnification?
What is the difference between subsistence
hunting and commercial hunting?
How is hunting different from poaching?
Some species are at greater risk to begin
with.
Some species will never be endangered.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
SPECIES WHICH MAKE
THEM LIKELY TO BE
ENDANGERED
Specialist – Panda ONLY eats bamboo
Specialist – needs helmet to survive
They are specialists
Have attractive
fur/feathers/attributes
Lions
African Elephants
Take a long time to reach
maturity, reproduce, and
produce only a few offspring at
Attwater Prairie Chicken
Blind Cave Salamander
Limited habitat
Cheetah
California Condor
Genetically similar
Timber wolf
Jaguar
High on the food chain
Check for understanding
Why would an animal high on the food
chain be likely to become endangered?
 Name three characteristics of a species
(besides high on the food chain) that
make it likely to become endangered.
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Homework tonight:
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Wildlife management
tool:
◦ Explain it, provide
example
◦ Be ready to teach
yours to the class
tomorrow!