What is the Difference Between a Threatened and Endangered Specie?

By

Jul

14

When talking about the dangers fish species face, there’s a difference in the extent at which they are in danger. The difference between a ‘threatened’ and ‘endangered’ specie has always been a question amongst biologists all over the world. Threatened and endangered both refer to the extinction of animal and plant species, but the difference is of the time between the two, and “endangered” definitely shows severity of the situation as compared to “threatened”. Threatened specie is comparatively at lesser risk as its population decreases gradually and there is a threat that it will decline in near future if the measures are not taken, for example some species of whale are threatened to extinct in near future.

threatened fish species
But the endangered specie is the one that will be extinct in no time. There is severe shortage of its population and they are being breed in the custody until their number increases so that they can be freed in jungles or in their natural habitats. If the immediate measures are not taken by official, they will extinct in no time, for instance bald eagles are endangered to wipe out. Usually Fish and Wildlife service defines that which animals/birds/fishes/mammals fall in the list of endangered and threatened.

Human beings are working for saving the wildlife from extinction, but they are themselves causes of danger for them. The reasons are many for the destruction of different species. Polar bears are one of the specie that is threatened to wipe out from the planet as the global warming is increasing because of commercialization factor. It melts the ice on poles so, their natural habitat gets affected and their lives are put at stake. While the Siberian tigers are highly endangered to death while their three sub species (Taxa) have already wiped out, the same way Dhole, Asiatic predator is on the verge of extinction. Illegal hunting has also threatened rare deers to grow the population.

Dhole, Wild Dog, Blue Whale, Giant Panda, Asian Elephant Snow Leopard, Hawksbill Turtle, Green Sea Turtle are some examples which are endangered.
While the threatened or vulnerable kinds of species are these: Rhinoceros, Okapi, Blue-billed Duck, Jaguar, Solitary Eagle, Southern White, and many more.

The need of the hour is that every one should have to play his part in saving of these plants and animal species to extinct as they are very important for the survival of environment and human lives to exist. If the natural environment is destroyed, the beauty of the planet will be no more.

Hawksbill Turtle

By

Jul

11

The rapid modernization and uncontrolled human activities are adding many species of land and sea to the list of endangered species. Hawksbill turtle is also one of them and is in the danger from being extent from the face of the world. These turtles are considered at critical stage of being extinct from the coastal areas of Pacific. Before telling you about the threats that Hawksbill turtles are facing, I would like to share some really interesting information about them.

hawksbill turtle

The Hawksbill turtles are olive grey in color with four pairs of large coastal scales on the either side of the body. The unique parrot like beak makes it distinct from other turtle species. The average weight of an adult is about 45 to 70 kilograms. The female Hawksbill turtle lays about 130 eggs on average with three to five nets per season. Mostly nesting is performed at night. The female Hawksbill turtle refers to nest on beach under shade or in vegetation with little sand and clam and flowing water. Mostly they like to feed upon the sea grasses, shellfish, sponges, algae, soft corals.

Talking about the potential threats that these turtles are facing, a large number of turtles die due to marine debris. The turtles often use marine debris as food by mistake. These marine derbies are toxic in nature that not only prevents turtles from receiving the proper nutrition but also play an important in causing a slow death of the turtles. The other major is that the commercial fishing in which turtles often get tangled in nets being used for fishing and caused many injuries in them and result in the drowning of the turtles unable to escape from the nets.

In order to protect the Hawksbill turtles from being extinct from the face of the earth, efforts should be made in order to increase the population these turtles. In that context, the illegal trade of fishing should be prohibited. Make sure to use the safe fishing methods that safe for other marine population. And, also efforts should be made in order to clean up oceans and protect Hawksbill turtles and other marine species from being extinct.

Reference: Illustrated Encyclopedia of endangered animals.