Question

WRITE A REPORT ON EXTINCT SPECIES...

Answer 1

According to scientists, more than one and one-half million species exist on the earth today. However, recent estimates state that at least 20 times that many species inhabit the planet.

Each day about 100 species become extinct. Scientists estimate that the total number of species lost each year may reach 40,000 by the year 2000. This is a rate far exceeding any in the last 65 million years.

There are more than 3,500 protected areas in existence worldwide. These areas include parks, wildlife refuges and other reserves. They cover a total of nearly 2 million square miles (5 million square km), or 3% of our total land area. Today, the United States is the home of over 200 endangered animal species. There are more than 1,000 animal species

endangered worldwide.

Aquatic species, which are often overlooked, are facing serious trouble. One third of the United States’ fish species, two-thirds of its crayfish species, and almost three-quarters of its mussel species are in trouble.

Endangered Species Terms :

VULNERABLE - A species particularly at risk because of low or declining

numbers or small range, but not a threatened species.

THREATENED SPECIE – a species whose population is not yet low enough

to be in immediate danger of extinction, but who certainly faces serious problems. If the problems affecting these species aren’t resolved, it is probable that the species will become endangered. The eastern indigo snake and the red kangaroo are examples of threatened species.

ENDANGERED SPECIE – a specie, plant or animal, that is in immediate

danger of becoming extinct. Its numbers are usually low, and it needs protection in order to survive. The Siberian tiger, the southern sea otter, the snow leopard, the green pitcher plant, and thousands of other plants and animals are endangered worldwide.

EXTINCT SPECIE – an extinct species is one that is no longer living. The

passenger pigeon, the dodo, and the Stegosaurus are examples of extinct species. These animals no longer exist on the earth.

Answer 2

Explanation:

• Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence.