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Endangered Wild Animals
The rapid growth of population has forced man to undertake extensive development work. Deforestation and encroachment of forest lands for their personal needs has caused habitat loss to the endangered wild animals.
The worldwide declining numbers of endangered wild animals have raised an alarm. As a preliminary timely measure to safeguard them, a "red list" containing the names of all the endangered wild animals has been prepared by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The "red list" of IUCN is believed to be the most authentic and comprehensive document with regard to the endangered animals. It contains the figures of all the endangered wild animals alive. Some figures of endangered wild animals alive, according to IUCN, are:
| Polar Bears | 20,000 to 25,000 |
| Giant Panda | 1,000 to 2,000 |
| Grizzly Bear | more than 500 |
| American Bison | Plains Bison 19,000 and Woods Bison 11,000 |
| Camels | Wild Bactrian (two-humped) camel 950, and
One-humped camel has become extinct in the wild |
| Cheetah | between 7,000 and 10,000 |
| Common Chimpanzee | between 150,000 and 250,000 |
| Bonobo | between 30,000 and 50,000 |
| California candor | only 130 |
| Andean candor | their number is unknown |
| South Asian River Dolphin | fewer than 1,000 |
| Baijo or Yangtze River Dolphin | their number is unknown; not seen for years |
| Asian Elephant | 40,000 to 50,000 |
| African Elephant | between 470,000 and 690,000 |
| Mountain Gorillas | fewer than 700 |
| Grauer's Gorilla | fewer than 16,000 |
| Lowland Gorillas | 90,000 |
| Cross River Gorillas | fewer than 300 |
| Amur Leopards | few than 40 |
| Snow Leopards | 4,000 to 6,000 |
| Clouded Leopards | their number is unknown |
| African Lion | 30,000 to 50,000 |
| Asiatic Lion | only 350 |
| Sumatran Orangutan | around 7,000 |
| Borneo Orangutan | between 40,000 and 65,000 |
| Panther | around 80 only |
| White Rhinoceros | 17,000 |
| Black Rhinoceros | 3,500 |
| Indian Rhinoceros | 2,500 |
| Sumatran Rhinoceros | fewer than 300 |
| Javan Rhinoceros | only 60 |
| Tasmanian devil | around 80,000 |
| Bengal Tiger | fewer than 2,000 |
| The Indochinese Tiger | fewer than 500 |
| Malayan Tiger | fewer than 500 |
| Sumatran Tiger | fewer than 500 |
| Siberian Tiger | around 500 |
| South China Tiger | not seen in years; their number may be zero |
| Blue Whale | 10,000 to 25,000 |
| Sperm Whale | fewer than 400,000 |
| Narwhal | over 80,000 |
| Beluga Whale | above 150,000 |
| Northern Right Whale | around 350 |
| North Pacific Right Whale | fewer than 1,000 |
| Gray Wolf | about 6,600 |
| Red Wolf | about 100 only |
| Grevy's Zebra | around 2,000 |
| Cape Mountain Zebra | around 1,500 |
In addition to those mentioned above, there are some other endangered wild animals fighting for their survival. Among them The Cuvier's Gazelle, King Cobra, Black Buck, Addax, African Wild Dogs, Striped Hyena, Peacock, Ostrich, African slender-snouted Crocodile, and Geometric Tortoise deserve to be mentioned.
All the endangered animals are threatened to become extinct because of their habitat loss, or they are extensively poached for their body parts. Moreover, severe climatic changes due to global warming and excessive presence of carbon di-oxide in the atmosphere have resulted in the relocation of endangered wild animals. The relocation to new places has brought new problems for them.
Therefore, it is important for us human beings to show concern for the endangered wild animals and take necessary steps for their conservation, before it is too late.
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