The Buergers' Tree Kangaroo

Buergers' Tree Kangaroo

Native to Papua New Guinea, Buergers' Tree Kangaroos are one of nine types of tree kangaroo. The family probably evolved from a common ancestor with the modern kangaroo and wallaby, like a small opossum, but more recently one which probably resembled the more familiar ground-dwelling variant of the kangaroo. They have long tails for balance and more developed forelimbs, enabling them to climb. Unlike ground kangaroos, their teeth are built for tearing leaves instead of cutting grass.

Logging, mining, and humans encroaching on their habitat, along with the subsequent affects of this, are the main causes of endangerment. They are hunted for meat by both wild dogs and the domestic dogs brought into their areas by humans, and are sometimes hit by cars and killed, since they live both on the ground and in trees. When the trees in the tropical rainforests they live in are cut down, they live more on the ground, and are more in danger of both dogs and cars.

Kelsey

(P.S. - Sorry the pictures aren't as good! Also, if you want to learn more about San Diego's tree kangaroo experience, go to the following website. http://www.cbs8.com/features/local8pets/story.php?id=61629 Kami)

The White Tiger

The White Tiger

The White Tiger is said to have originated in India during the HB Mughal period. It now lives in the frozen tundra of the Soviet Far East, in the humid jungles of Malaya and Indonesia, and in the hot, hardwood forests of India. Even though it has been illegal to hunt and kill these animals for over 100 years, people are still finding ways to slay these amazing creatures. White tigers are born to Bengal tigers that carry an unusual gene, causing them to be white. They are good swimmers, but poor climbers. These tigers have blue eyes and a pink nose. White tigers can eat up to 40 pounds of meat at a time (that’s how much my sister weighs!), but they do not eat again for several days.

Sadly, there are only about 200 white tigers left in the wild. They are practically extinct, and most of the living ones are in captivity and in zoos. In the wild, white tigers live for about 10 to 15 years, and in zoos they live about 16 to 20 years. The main causes of their extinction are poaching, habitat loss, and population fragmentation. In the last 100 years, only 12 white tigers have been seen in India, which made about 1 white tiger for 1,000 pigmented (meaning orange) tigers.

Maximar

The Amur Leopard

The Amur Leopard

The Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis or Panthera pardus amurensis) might just be the most endangered big cat (or any feline) in the world, with an estimate of 25 to 34 wild individuals. Also called the Far East Leopard, Manchurian leopard, Korean leopard, or the Siberian Leopard, the Amur lives in the Sikhote-Alin mountains in Russia. At one point, its territory stretched throughout the Korean Peninsula, northeastern China, and an extended area in Russia. Occasionally it could even be found in warmer areas and its homeland was often shared with Siberian Tigers. Some may remain in North Korea, but what with the current political situation in this country, the facts are unknown.

The fur trade and habitat destruction, fairly common and widespread occurrences, particularly in obscure regions such as the areas that the Amur leopard lives in, are the main causes of endangerment. From 1970-1983, 80% of this leopard's range was lost to logging. Non-natural forest fires started by farmers in an attempt to burn their fields and increase soil productivity are also a serious cause of habitat loss.

This fires are multidimensional threats--they not only make an area briefly uninhabitable to any life, but the first thing to come back after a fire is grassland, which the leopards cannot live in. If too much of a forest is burned away, it cannot reclaim the meadows and the damage becomes permanent. Amur leopard prey such as roe deer, sitka deer, musk deer, wild boar, badger, and hare can be driven into areas where they cannot survive, or are even killed in the blaze.

Of the approximately 30 remaining in the wild, only six are females. Scientists predict that there needs to be at least 100 to maintain genetic diversity; a Planet Earth episode featured a mother leopard and her cub, who was sired by her own father, resulting in bad health in the cub. Hope for this species relies heavily on the approximately 200 captive individuals, mainly in North American zoos. A captive-breeding program will be necessary to maintain health genetic levels and prevent inbreeding.

Kelsey

The Numbat

Here is a piece about the Numbat. Thank you to Kelsey, the author of this piece, for donating her time to write about an endangered species. Kami


The numbat is a small carniverous marsupial that lives only in Western Australia. Its scientific name is Myrmecobius fasciatus, and it is the only member in its genus (Myrmecobius) and the family Myrmecobiidae. Also called the Banded Anteater, the numbat actually eats mostly termites, not ants.

The numbat ranged all over most of Australia until European colonization, at which time the European Red Fox was purposefully introduced. The foreign species made the numbat extinct in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and the Northern Territory, and almost in Western Australia as well, but it was saved. By 1970 there were less than 1,000 living numbats, mostly in two populations, one near Perth. These areas had many small logs for the numbat to hide in, and this is the only reason researchers can think of to explain why it was able to survive there and not elsewhere.

The numbat is diurnal (meaning it comes out during the day), and is therefore more at risk than other, nocturnal or crepuscular marsupials (those that come out at night or at dawn and dusk). It has many natural predators, including the Little Eagle, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, and the Carpet Python, but until the introduction of the Red Fox, it had a healthy population. When an experimental program to capture the foxes was implemented, more than forty times the number of numbats were reported as seen.

Since 1980, extensive numbat rescue programs have been used, and recently they began to be re-introduced into historic areas (after the foxes were removed from that area). The two separate populations helped to maintain some genetic diversity, but the numbat is still at risk of extinction. It is now classified as vulnerable rather than critically endangered.

Kelsey

Our First Real Post!

Hello -

I sent out an e-mail to all of my friends and family saying something along the lines of, "Hey! I have a new blog and anyone who wants to post on it can!" Lucky for me, I've already gotten replies!!

One of my friends made a word search for anyone who is interested! Petrie Peel has made up a word search of endangered animals. Most of them are pretty uncommon - so have fun doing doing the word search and then looking up the animals to see what they are! One of the animals on the wordsearch, a Dibbler, is pictured here.

Here's the link to the wordsearch online.

http://www.armoredpenguin.com/wordsearch/Data/2008.05/0519/05190417.168.html

I think you might have to print the word search out to do it, but who doesn't love a word search?

Thank you Petrie Peel!

Emma

Animals...Now and Then

Think of the word endangered...or the word extinct. What do they mean to you? What have you done to try to stop endangered species from going extinct? Have you listened to the news about a sighting of a previously thought to be extinct species and was excited about it? Or did you turn the radio off?

This is a blog for the animal lovers out there who want to know about all of the different species that need help. Sometimes there will be lots of factual information about certain animals and species, and other times there will be ways that you can help these animals.

This will mostly be a factual blog, with lots of different facts and pictures of different animals.

I hope you all enjoy!

Emma