Sciences
Italy
Endangered species
by Rossella and Francesca
The natural phenomenon of extinction of
a species is a biological phenomenon very
slow in a balanced ecosystem is
compensated by the appearance of new
species and is thus a phenomenon that
does not impoverish the variety of living
organisms.
Different, and in many ways alarming,
however, is the situation that has arisen
in the last 150 years, since the Industrial
Revolution: many species have
disappeared and others not at risk of
extinction due to natural factors but due
to the pressure on the man’s ecosystem.
The number of species that have become
extinct in recent years is unprecedented
in the history of life. If the frequency of
extinctions should proceed with the
current speed (about 30,000 species per
year according to some estimates) , or
even if, as seems to be happening, should
accelerate, the number of species extinct
in the next decade could match and
exceed that observed during the major
mass extinctions, the last of which, dating
back to 65 million years ago, causing the
disappearance of dinosaurs. Worldwide,
there are numerous attempts to try to
prevent the extinction of our closest
relatives, the great apes: according to the
UN, in fact, for Gorilla, Orangutan,
Chimpanzee and Bonobo few decades
remain before the extinction, in nature or
in captivity.
A lot of species are in danger:
African wild ass, Alabama cavefish Amur
leopard, Arakan forest turtle,Asiatic
cheetah, axolotl, bactrian camel, Brazilian
m e r g a n s e r, b r o w n s p i d e r m o n ke y,
California condor, Chinese alligator,
Chinese giant salamander, gharial,
Hawaiian monk seal, Iberian lynx, Island
fox, Javan rhino, kakapo, leatherback sea
turtle, Mediterranean monk seal, Mexican
wolf, mountain gorilla, Northern hairynosed wombat,Philippine eagle, red wolf,
saiga, Siamese crocodile, Spix’s macaw,
s o u t h e r n b l u e f i n t u n a , S u m a t ra n ,
orangutan, Sumatran rhinoceros, vaquita,
Yangtze river dolphin, northern white
rhinoceros .
Gavialis Gangeticus
The Siberian tiger is a
subspecies of tiger that is
endangered; three subspecies of
tiger are already extinct.
The most endangered Asiatic top
predator, the dhole, is on the
edge of extinction.
Gold toad
Hawaii Turtle