Endangered Species : Sharks : Whale Shark

>> ENDANGERED : Whale Shark(Rhincodon typus)

• The largest living fish species.
• Found in tropical and warm oceans and lives in the open sea.
• Believed to have originated about 60 million years ago.
• Despite its enormous size, does not pose any significant danger to humans.
• Targeted by artisinal and commercial fisheries in several areas where they seasonally aggregate.
• Targeted by harpoon fisheries because their meat and fins fetch a high price on the international market.

See more on Whale Shark on ARKive.
Google Image Search On Whale Shark.

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Endangered Species : Bears : Sun Bear

>> ENDANGERED : Sun Bear(Helarctos malayanus)

• The smallest of all the bear species.
• Sun bears can be found in south-east Asia. The range of the sun bear population isn’t known, particularly on its eastern edge.
• Inhabits both primary and logged dense lowland tropical forests.
• Sun bears suffer from trapping. The cubs are often sold into the pet trade and adults killed for their body parts.
• Sun bear meat is a sometimes served in restaurants. Bear paw is seen as a delicacy in some regions.

For more info on the species see ARKive.
Google Image Search on Sun Bear.

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Endangered Species : Sharks : Ganges Sharks

• >> Critically Endangered.
  
• A little-known species, lives in freshwater, inshore marine and estuarine systems.
• The Ganges shark is largely restricted to the rivers of Eastern and North-Eastern India.
• Appearance of a typical requiem shark. Stocky. Broadly rounded snout, with small eyes.
• The shark appears to pose a threat to humans , but this has not been proven. Though some consider the Ganges shark to be "extremely dangerous", it has so far been impossible to separate its attacks from those of Bull Sharks.

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Threats To Turtles

Fishing:

Marine turtles are frequently trapped in trawler nets or caught on longline hooks. The turtles can't escape and consequently drown. Bycatch (unwanted catch) is a problem for many marine species, not just turtles. Fishing nets can now be fitted with Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) which may help to alleviate the problem.

Migration: Turtles make huge migrations between feeding and breeding sites. Loggerhead turtles, for example, have been tracked on voyages right across the Pacific creating considerable difficulty for conservationists and those conducting research into turtle populations. There is a need for a global approach to protect all migratory species that cross international marine boundaries.

Hunting: In the past, turtle featured regularly on the menus of sailors and explorers as live animals could be kept on board ships as a source of fresh meat. Although no longer part of a sea-faring diet, turtles are still hunted. The shells are used for ornaments or ground up to make traditional medicines and the meat and eggs are eaten in coastal communities and smuggled across the world as delicacies. This illegal trade continues despite being banned by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

Predators: Although a turtle may lay hundreds of eggs at a time, the hatchlings must make a hazardous journey to reach the sea. They are preyed upon by numerous natural predators including crabs, birds, dogs, foxes, fish and marine mammals. A naturally low survival rate is diminished still further if turtle eggs are taken by humans.

Breeding age: A key factor for turtle survival is the number of adults of breeding age. Some females don't produce young until they are several decades old and they may only breed every other year, or even less frequently. If juveniles don't survive long enough to mate, turtle populations will never recover.

Habitat loss: Adult female turtles return to the beaches where they hatched to lay their eggs. Sadly, they often travel huge distances only to find human development on or near their nesting sites. Turtles are confused by artificial beachfront lighting which causes hatchlings to crawl inland instead of heading for the sea. Once stranded on land, they are usually eaten by predators. PollutionThe health of the ocean environment is important for all marine species.

Pollution: from human activity often ends up in the sea. Because turtles may live for up to 100 years, pollutants such as PCBs build up in their bodies and a chemical cocktail is passed on to their eggs. Litter also causes chaos. Plastic bags are a particular problem as turtles mistake them for jellyfish and swallow them. The bags get caught in the digestive tract and cause the turtles to starve.

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Asian Elephants

Asian elephants used to range from Iraq to China's Yellow River. Now they are found from India to Vietnam with a very small population in south west China. The WWF estimates there are between 25,600 and 32,750 individual Asian elephants left in the wild. The biggest population is in India. Sri Lanka was once recognised for its large elephant population, but numbers are falling. The most recently identified subspecies, the Borneo 'pygmy elephant' has been estimated to number 1,500 or fewer. Habitat loss is the greatest threat to Asian elephants and their seasonal migrations are now almost impossible because of human settlement along their traditional routes.Besides the wild population there are many thousands of domesticated elephants. They are used in the logging industry as a highly effective way to shift timber through forests, without the need for more road-building. Conservationists have raised concerns that some methods used to tame displaced wild elephants for use as working animals are outdated and cruel.In 1989 the Thai government banned logging following a series of landslips caused by deforestation. Although this was clearly a good idea, some 3,000 logging elephants, became unemployed overnight. The remaining forests were too small to support them and many elephants too reliant on their handlers (mahouts) to be released into the wild.In such cases, the tourist industry is the best hope. Elephants are used for trekking expeditions and other forms of tourist amusement (some even play music and paint). The best organisations treat the animals well, but there are many instances where elephants are neglected and end up begging with their mahouts on the streets of busy cities.

Source: BBC

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Getting Extinct : On the edge : Orang-utans

Orang-utans

Orang-utans are the only great apes to live outside Africa. There are thought to be fewer than 30,000 orang-utans left in the wild. The majority are spread over the three or four subspecies in Borneo. A tiny proportion live in Sumatra. The Bornean orang-utan is listed as endangered by the IUCN.The Sumatran orang-utan is the more threatened of the two species, listed as critical rather than endangered by the IUCN. This means it is 'facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.'These solitary apes require a huge amount of space to survive. The national parks that should be safe havens are reportedly being logged illegally.The forests where they live are also threatened by growing demand for palm oil, the world's best selling vegetable oil. Clearing land to grow palm plantations is lucrative. Palm oil is in numerous everyday items – one in ten items in a supermarket, including foods and cosmetics, may contain it.80% of orang-utan habitat has already been designated for timber concessions or is vulnerable to illegal logging or habitat conversion.In November 2002, researchers from Nature Conservancy discovered a new population of orang-utans in East Kalimantan, Borneo. The group numbers between 1,000 and 2,500 and the discovery has raised hopes that the species can be saved.

Source: BBC

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The Rare Lemur

A Crowned Verreauxi Sifakas, a baby lemur born at the Paris Vincennes Zoo. Crowned Verreauxi Sifakas are lemurs originating from the North West of Madagascar, the only place where they can be found in the wild. They're partly leaf eaters, with noticeably high digestibility of insoluble fibre and relative slow transit times compared to other lemurs. Less than 20 animals of this rare sub-species are hold in captivity among European Zoos, all from Paris Zoo original colony or its breeding issues.

Source: Times Of India

Posted By: Nikhil Jain

People for Animals

King Penguin In Danger

King penguins, that feed on fish and squid at the northern edges of Antarctica, are seen in this undated handout photo. King penguins are threatened by global warming, which is cutting down their food supply. King penguins are the second largest species after emperor penguins. (Reuters Photo)

Source: Times Of India

Contributor: Nikhil Jain

People for Animals

Bears Under Threat

Wildlife scientists say the accelerated loss of arctic sea ice may cause polar bears to disappear in the next 50 years. Polar Bears International and the San Diego Zoo announced a new alliance 31 January 2008 to establish a conservation program, 'Arctic Ambassadors', that will generate scientific information to support conservation, it will become a vanguard messenger for the polar bear conservation crisis and the threats facing the arctic and the globe due to climate change. (AFP Photo)

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The Small Friend : Sumatran Elephant

Sumatran elephant, the smallest of the Asian elephants, is facing serious pressures due to illegal logging and rapid forests conversion to palm oil plantations. As forests shrink, elephants are increasingly closer to fields and cultivated land, generating conflict with humans that often result in the death of the elephants by poisoning or capture. The Minas Elephant Training Centre in Indonesia protects more than 40 elephants from around 200 elephants in Riau's forests. (Reuters Photo)

Source: Times Of India

People for Animals

SEAL HUNT

URGENT CAMPAIGN

Another blood bath is coming in the spring of 2008...

In 2007, the DFO authorized to kill 270,000 baby harp seals ( plus 8,200 hooded seals and 9,000 grey seals!), despite the pleas of animal welfare organizations worldwide and countries to not have the seal cull last year !

During the early spring 2007, over 260,000 Harp seal pups drowned in the Gulf of St. Lawrence due to lack of ice. On the Atlantic side "The Front" (the waters off New Foundland and Labrador), the ice conditions were a bit better, but thousands of baby seals perished too.

This unethical action of the Canadian Government, only convinced more country members of the European Union, to join the ban of all Canadian seal products.

STOP THE SEAL HUNT IN CANADA !

Every Spring on the Eastern coast of Canada, the hunters, armed with clubs and hagapiks, beat to death hundreds of thousands baby harp seals, but also hooded and grey pup seals.

A 98 % of the baby seals killed are between 14 days to 12 weeks old.

The most shocking evidence comes from 2001, when an international team of Veterinarians who witnessed the hunt, perfomed post-mortem examinations among some carcasses chosen randomly and proved that a 42% of those seals were skinned alive !!!

(Pls, check this link for the full report info: http://infurmation.com/pdf/fielder01.pdf )

This is the largest mammal killing in the world and there is no excuse for such a massacre and torture of these beautiful living beings. It only gives Canada a bad name as a primitive nation profiting from the fur of baby seals.

This year, by late March or early April, the Canadian seal killers armed with clubs and rifles will go again to the nursery floes of the harp and hood seal, to massacre them in the largest mass slaughter of marine mammals on this planet!

Over a MILLION seals have been killed within 4 years (and not counting the baby seals, struck and lost...).

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO STOP THIS SEAL HUNT, GO TO SEAL BAN + the eight following webpages:

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/BanCanadiansealsproducts.html English

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/Fok.html Polish

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/listsealban2008.html

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/sealban2.html

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/lsban3.html

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/sbeu4.html

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/sbleu5.html

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/EUSB6.html

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/EUSBL7.html

http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/EUsbl8.html

Source: CATCA

People for Animals

Turtles Begin Mass Nesting

Turtles begin mass nesting in Orissa

BERHAMPUR: Thousands of endangered Olive Ridley turtles have begun mass nesting on the coast of eastern Orissa state, home to the world's largest nesting site for the turtles, officials said on Wednesday.

Over 20,000 turtles came ashore for mass-nesting early on Wednesday, within a two-kilometre stretch from the mouth of the Rushikulya river in Ganjam district, a local forest department official said.

The Rushikulya river mouth is around 175 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar.

For more than a decade, the beach at the Rushikulya river mouth has been witnessing mass arrival of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles. But the turtles did not land here last year, the official said.

The turtles, which this year have already congregated in the sea near the nesting site, came ashore in groups, with around 5,000 to 10,000 turtles in each group.

There are three mass nesting sites of turtles in Orissa: Nasi Islands in Gahirmatha, Devi river mouth and Rushikulya river mouth.

However, no mass nesting has been reported from the other two beaches so far, although turtles are seen swimming near the coast, a wildlife official said.

The Rushikulya river mouth is the only place along the coast where turtles are safe from marauding trawlers, said Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the NGO Wildlife Society of Orissa.

Contributed By: Nikhil Jain

People for Animals