1. Endangered Animals in Our Midst

2. Extinct A species of plant or animal that is no longer living.
Definitions
Extinct
A species of plant or animal that is no longer living.
Endangered
A species that is in immediate danger of becoming extinct and needs protection to survive.
Threatened
A species that is likely to become endangered if it is not protected.
In the United States, there are over 400 animal species identified as endangered, and over 150 animals that are threatened.

3. Extinct
When the last of a type of plant or animal in the world dies, such as dinosaurs or wooly mammoths, then they are extinct or lost forever, and can never be brought back.
Since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, more than 500 species in the United States have become extinct.
More species are going extinct today because people are altering the air, water, and land faster than species can adapt.
Passenger pigeons became extinct in the early 1900s due to destruction of their forest habitat and extreme overhunting.

4. Endangered
An endangered species is one that is getting close to extinction.
Gray wolves are endangered in most of the United States. They once roamed widely across North America. As predators, they keep their prey in balance with nature by ensuring the prey animals do not become over-populated. Before people understood how important predators are to keeping a healthy balance in nature, many wolves were killed.

5. Threatened
A threatened species is likely to become endangered if the factors putting it at risk are not reversed.
The Stellar Sea Lion, which lives in Alaska, is a threatened species. Its population declined over 75% between 1976 and The factors that have contributed to its decline include being caught in fishing nets, being hunted, diseases, contaminants, and increased fishing, which has reduced its food supply.
New regulations have helped the Stellar Sea Lion start to rebound in recent years

6. Why Do Species Become Endangered?
Habitat loss - When people remove or change forests, rivers, wetlands, prairies, beaches, and other ecosystems, there is often no place left for plants, fish, and wildlife.
Illegal killing or over-collection
Pesticides and pollution
Competition with other species
Disease

7. Whooping Cranes
Whooping cranes are endangered mainly because of habitat loss. These large wading birds feed and nest in open marshes and rivers, called wetlands, as they migrate between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico with the changing seasons. Migrating animals need appropriate habitats as they travel along their migration route. Many wetlands have been lost to agriculture and development.

8. Eagles
DDT, a pesticide, was being used on farms to control bugs that harmed crops. When it rained, DDT washed off the soil and into the waterways. Bald eagles became poisoned with DDT when they ate fish living in the waterways contaminated with DDT.
Because of the DDT in their bodies, bald eagles began laying eggs with shells so thin they often broke, greatly reducing eagle populations.
In 1972, the U.S. government banned the use of DDT because of its harmfulness to the health of animals and humans.
With efforts to protect eagle habitats and reintroduce eagles into former habitats, the number of adult nesting pairs in the lower 48 states has increased from 450 before the DDT ban to over 4,000 now.
Man preparing to release bald eagle
into the wild.

9. Manatees
Human activities are also the main problem facing the endangered manatee, or sea cow.
Manatees live in rivers, canals, and along the coast of Florida, where people often use boats for recreation.
Sometimes, speed boats run over the manatees, killing or injuring them.
By enforcing laws to protect species, such as slow speed zones in waters inhabited by endangered animals, we can help rare species survive.

10. Copperbelly Water Snake
In 1997, the copperbelly water snake was listed as a threatened species in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, due to habitat loss and pollution from mining. It lives in a wetland ecosystem and is an important predator as well as prey for many types of wildlife.

11. Ecosystems
All living things, from mammals (including humans) to fish to insects to plants, are connected and depend on each other for survival.
This system of living things depending on one another and their environment is called an ecosystem.
The removal of one species or aspect of the environment in an ecosystem can set off a chain reaction affecting other species, like the wetlands and the whooping crane.

12. Endangered species show us that our world may not be as healthy as we think. We need to take better care of it...there's no place else to go!

13. What Is Being Done to Help Endangered and Threatened Species?
In 1973, the U.S. enacted the Endangered Species Act to protect disappearing plants and animals, and help make our world a cleaner, safer place where they can live.
More than 900 species of plants and animals in the U.S. are protected by the Endangered Species Act.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for protecting endangered and threatened species and the habitats they depend on.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife representatives
work with a Florida panther.

14. Ways You Can Help
Learn as much as you can about endangered species in your area
Visit nearby wildlife refuges or nature centers
Don’t buy species illegally taken from the wild (e.g., turtles)
Don’t buy products made from threatened or endangered species (e.g., ivory)
Work with groups that help to clean up or restore local ecosystems for species
Contribute to organizations working to protect endangered species and their habitats

15. It’s up to everyone to be a good steward of our ecosystems and the species that live in them.

16. The choices you make every day affect our environment
The choices you make every day affect our environment. By conserving energy, water, and other resources, you are helping the environment and the species that live in it.
We can do it!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!