Творческая работа на тему: "Изчезающие животные в мире"

Министерство образования Ростовской области

Муниципальное бюджетное общеобразовательное учреждение

Екатериновская

средняя общеобразовательная школа

Проектно-исследовательская работа

на тему «Исчезающие животные в мире »

по направлению «Страноведение»

в районном конкурсе «Мой проект»

                                  Марии Писаревой и Елены Якименко

             учащихся 6класса

руководитель проекта

учитель английского языка

БедирхановаМ.Б.

                                                 2016 год

I. The Endangered Animals in the World                                                                              Do you know how many endangered species there are in the world? There are about 10,796 endangered animals on the Earth right now! We want to tell you about some most endangered animals and what we must do to save them. As you know there are a lot of endangered animals in the world. Among them we have chosen these animals as the most endangered ones. They are:                                                                                                                                                          1. the Baiji or Yangtze river dolphin,                                                                                                                                             2. the Vaquita,                                                                                                                                                                              3. the Javan Rhinoceros, the Sumatran Rhinoceros and the Black Rhinoceros                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               4. the Giant Panda,                                                                                                                                                                                    5. Amur Leopard                                                                                                                        6.the Siberian Tiger,                                                                                                                                                                               7. the Cross River Gorilla and  the Mountain Gorilla                                                                 8. the Borneo Pygmy Elephant and the Sumatran elephant.

Baiji

Of the most endangered animals in the world, two are aquatic animals. These are the Baiji and the Vaquita. The Baiji, also called the Yangtze River Dolphin, is a species of fresh-water dolphin that lives only in the Yangtze River, China. This Dolphin was ranked as the world’s most endangered species, as a 2007 expedition foundonly three ones. Since, none have been seen.

Vaquita

The Vaquita is a species of porpoise that lives only in the Gulf of California, a stretch of water between Baja California and Mexico. The Vaquita comes in as the world’s ninth most endangered animal with only about 500 to 600 individuals left alive. It is the most endangered cetacean in the world. It is also the smallest living cetacean. The greatest threat to the remaining vaquitas is incidental death caused by fishing gear. They are also killed by commercial shrimp trawlers. It is believed that about 30 vaquitas are lost to these threats each year. Other major threats are pesticide pollution, natural predators, habitat loss and degradation. Many protective measures are being taken to help this species to recover.

Javan Rhinoceros

Have you ever heard of  Javan rhinos? Probably not, because they are on the edge of extinction.  The Javan Rhinoceros is the most endangered Rhinoceros in the world. There are only 40 of these one- horned mammals left on the Earth. Javan rhinos live in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia and if a natural disaster happens in this park, these species will be gone forever. How Javan  rhinos have become so endangered is the question. But I think humans took a big part in disappearing of animals' habitats.

Sumatran Rhinoceros

The Sumatran Rhinoceros is the fifth most endangered animal in the world. The Sumatran Rhinos’ current population is about 300. The Sumatran Rhinoceros is the only Asian Rhinoceros with two horns and the only Rhinoceros with hair, having a coat of reddish brown fur. As the smallest rhinos, they weigh about 1,760 pounds, and grow to a height near 5 feet at the shoulders and 8 to 10 feet in length. The main threats to their survival in the wild include poaching and habitat loss because of humans.

Black Rhinoceros

The Black Rhinoceros is one of two Rhinoceros Species in Africa, and one of five worldwide. The Black Rhinos remained only a thousand individuals. There were 90,000 ones earlier. The Black Rhinos were hunted to near extinction this century by poachers that wanted to sell their horns and people that were afraid of their aggressive reputation. Since then the Black Rhinoceros has made a tremendous come back but is still in the critically endangered zone. Habitat loss is also influenced to the population decline of rhinos.

The Giant Panda is Critically Endangered

The icon of the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), the panda bear (known as the Giant Panda) has reached critically endangered status. Have you ever heard the quote "Your days are numbered?"There are 1,000 giant panda bears left in the wild and their days actually are numbered. Everyday this number is rapidly going down because of human’s doings. As people continue with their everyday lives of farming, logging and developing land higher up on mountain slopes, at the same time they are killing the beautiful pandas. The giant panda species is dying out because of one major factor: habitat loss. Pandas usually starve to death because of the bamboo dies off naturally. The plant is slow-growing. In their native lands of southeast Asia (especially in China), industrialization has resulted in the clearing of bamboo forests, which drive the panda bears farther and farther in search of food. Manyof them die of starvation before they can get to the next forest. Stop what you're doing before it's too late! According to Wikipedia: The Giant Panda is among the world's most adored and protected rare animals, and is one of few animals in the world whose natural inhabitant status was able to gain a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.                Amur Leopard

The Amur Leopard is native to northern Asia, specifically Russia. There are only 40 Amur Leopards left in the world, the second most endangered animal. Today, there are about 20-25 Amur leopards living in Russia and 7-12 in China, so the Amur leopard is critically endangered. The Amur Leopard is very elusive and has always had a small population. This species has been hunted for its pelt for hundreds of years. The Amur leopard is poached largely for its beautiful, spotted fur. The main reason why these animals are endangered is because of the major factor that affects everyone:habitat loss. From 1970-1983, these leopards lost 80% of their territory due to logging, farming and natural things such as forest fires. Amur leopards live up to 10-15 years and adapt to almost any habitat as long as it provides food and shelter.

Siberian Tiger

Coming in fourth place on the list is the Siberian tiger. The Siberian Tiger’s population is currently about 500. In the nineteenth century three tiger species went extinct, the Bali, Caspian and Javan Tigers. The Siberian Tiger is predicted to go extinct by 2050 if no effective action is taken.  There were once eight tiger subspecies, but three became extinct during the 20th century. Over the last hundred years, hunting and forest destruction reduced overall tiger populations from hundreds of thousands to perhaps 3,000 to 5,000. Tigers are hunted as trophies and also for body parts that are used in traditional Chinese medicine. All five remaining tiger subspecies are endangered, and many protection programs are in place. One of them was adopted by our President V.V.Putin. Poaching is reduced, but it is still very significant threat to Siberian tigers.The tiger was first declared an endangered species in 1969. If we don’t help the tigers to survive near 99% of the wild cats will disappear in 100 years.

Cross River Gorilla

The Cross River Gorilla is the world’s most endangered primate. There are only about 300 left, making it sixth in the list of endangered animals. The Cross River Gorilla lives only along the southern Cameroon-Nigeria border. The Cross River Gorilla is a shy animal that was not known to exist until the 80’s.  It is a subspecies of western lowland gorillas and thought to have diverged from them about 17,800 years ago. Two parks, Takamanda National Park in Cameroon and Cross River National Park in Nigeria, have been established for the protection of the Cross River gorillas. Their numbers declined due to habitat loss, degradation, hunting for bushmeat, farming activity and construction of roads throughout their habitats.

Mountain Gorilla

Mountain gorillas’ habitat is a lush mountain forest, high up in the VirungaMountains of Africa. The Mountain Gorilla is the second rarest known primate in the world. There are 302-408 individuals left alive. These gorillas are peaceful, gentle and social. They disappear because of habitat loss and poaching. Male gorillas protect their families from any threats. The leader of the typical group is called a silverback. Mountain gorillas spend the majority of their time eating plants, insects and worms.  

Borneo Pygmy Elephant

The Borneo Pygmy Elephant’s population is about 1,200 and has been declining by 50% every fifty years since its discovery in 1841. As people cut the forests and it brings the elephants into more frequent contact with people, increasing human -elephant conflict in the region.They are killed because of their ivory tusks too.

The Sumatran elephant is a subspecies of the Asian elephant and smallest of all the subspecies. The population of elephants was declined at least 80% over the past 75 years. The subspecies is conspicuously threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation and poaching for their ivory tusks. Within the last 25 years, 69% of their potential habitat has been lost to deforestation for palm oil plantations. As the forest area decreased, elephants often come into contact with human settlements generating many conflicts with humans which end by elephants’ deaths.                                                  II Five reasons why animals are endangered:                                                                                                    1. Loss of Habitat                                                                                                                               2. Poaching and Hunting                                                                                          3.Pollution                                                                                                                                                4. Global Warming                                                                                                                     5.Money                                                                                                                                Loss of habitat.

 An enormous part of mass extinction is the loss of the animals' natural habitat.                  The over population of man-kind influences on nature and the animal kingdom.               As we know the jungles and the rainforests are cut by people.                                                                  Pollution. 

A lot of animals died because of pollution, especially water pollution.  Water is at the bottom of the food chain meaning everything needs water: plants, animals and humans. There are natural, intentional, and accidental causes of pollution of water and air.

Global Warming

Global warming is affecting everyone on the Earth - including the animals. The uncontrollable gases of the earth combined with human activity cause global warming. Global warming is taking bamboo from panda bears, homes of penguins, and lives of polar bears, salmon.

Poaching and the Mighty Dollar

Now you might see the biggest cause of these threatened, endangered, and extinctive animals. Money is something everyone wants; everyone "needs" because money is power. People will do anything for money, like hunting down animals for fur, meat and ivory. There are so many crazy things people will do for money because you can do what you want or pay for what you really need like rent, food and electricity. There are a lot of reasons why people would love to punishpoachers. There are rewards set over $4,000 to find someone who shot and killed a bald eagle. A stuffed head tiger pelt can go for $10,000 US dollars in the black market.                                        The three top places with exports of ivory are China, Thailand, and Africa. Ivory comes from horns of rhinos, antlers of antelopes, tusks of elephants.

III. How Can We Help the Endangered Species?                                                            Many animals are on the endangered species list because of us. We hunt these animals to make money for ourselves, or even for the thrill of killing. In my opinion, it's alright to hunt sick animals but you have to draw the line at some point. If you keep hunting, and hunting, and hunting, well there just won't be enough animals left, will there?Schoolchildren at our school help birds and small animals like squirrels. In autumn we make comfortable houses for them and in winter we feed them.We plant trees because they are the houses for birds and small animals, they clear the air.There is more than one way you can help these suffering animals. You can donate or adopt an animal from the world wildlife fund and they use all proceeds to help save animals. Another way to help save animals and save the money in your pocket is by turning off unused items ,even unplugging them you can lower the pollution rate of electric companies. If there isn’t a demand for tiger pelts and ivory, we can save the animals. If you really want to save the environment for the future generations you can also buy an eco car. Eco cars are a thing of the future that can run off electricity or biodegradable vegetable oil. These options are something to think about because it’s not your lifetime but your children and their kids’ lifetime because one day we can pollute ourselves to extinction.

We want to finish our project by the poem written by Richard Bellies

Hunter

The hunter has the gun in his cold hands,
The hunter waits for his prey,                                                                                                                                                                                      The hunter wants to kill a harmless animal,
For what- the fun? For the sport?
I don't know,                                                                                                                                    But when the animal knows it’s being hunted,                                                                              It freezes on the spot,                                                                                                                          It sweats and can't move its head,                                                                                                      So stiff and afraid,                                                                                                                    And he knows one shot and his whole life is done,                                                                              So why, why kill a harmless animal,                                                                                           It only loves and is beautiful,                                                                                                          Just think if you were that animal,                                                                                                              How would it feel knowing, you might just die tomorrow.... 

Literature:

1. Ten Most Endangered Animals | All About Wildlifeallaboutwildlife.com›ten-most-endangered-animals

2. 10 Most Endangered Animals in the Worldhubpages.com›…Most-Endangered-Animals-in-the-World

3. Top 10 Critically Endangered Animals in the World - List Doselistdose.com›top-10…endangered-animals-world/