MAIN FACTORS OF ANIMALS EXTINCTION

A REVIEW OF LITERATURE

PANNACHA LERTLARPNONT

A PAPER SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT FOR THE 4TH QUARTER FINAL PROJECT
ENGLISH GRADE 10
MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL
DEMONSTRATION SCHOOL
2016-2017
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Pannacha Miu Lertlarpnont

Ms. Orana Meenongwha

English 10/10:04

May 25, 2017

Main Factors of Animals Extinction

Introduction

Nowadays, there are many species that are becoming endangered due to the changes

of our world. Some of them are extinct. For instance, Homotherium, a scimitar-toothed cat lived

in a cold large area of flat grassland. They have been existed around 5 million years ago in parts

of Eurasia, North America and until the middle Pleistocene. These sabretooths appearance is

like a cheetah, triangular in shape and wicked sharp. They get their food by running down their

prey to exhaustion. However, the last Homotherium could have survived until 10,000 years ago,

until the Late Pleistocene. The Late Pleistocene age was 126,000 - 5,000 years ago. It is thought

that the cause for Homotheriums extinction is due to the specialized nature of its diet, the

extinction of its large mammal prey. Moreover, the Caribbean monk seal, also known as West

Indian seal or sea wolf, is a large and powerful creature. They could grow to nearly 2.4 meters in

length and weighed 170 - 270 kilograms. They used to live in temperate, subtropical and tropical

waters of the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the west Atlantic Ocean. The main reason for

the extinction of Caribbean monk seal was because human. In eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries, the non-stop hunting and killing of the seals to get the oil diminished number of them.

Now, it is another specie that is believed to be extinct. Furthermore, thylacine, commonly known
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as the Tasmanian tiger, lived in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. It is believed to become

extinct in twentieth century. Its size is similar to a medium to large size dog. The notable feature

is at its striped lower back. The massive hunting by bounties is thought to be the main reason of

extinction of Tasmanian tiger. Nevertheless, our world has lost 200 to 2,000 species every year

and so on due to several reasons. Therefore, this research report aims to explain major reason

why certain species of animals become extinct.

Climate Change

Our world temperature keeps changing every second. Weather sometimes obviously

changes. The change of weather is the main factor that causes animals to be extinct. In the past,

dinosaur were wiped out by a massive bout volcanism making them unable to live. Recently,

many animals that are nearly extinct due to climate change. Sea turtles is one of the species that

is affected by the changing of climate. Sea turtles have been living on the earth for more than

110 million years. They have survived from cretaceous period while all of the dinosaurs died.

Right from the start when sea turtles hatch, the hatchling will make their way to the ocean.

Nonetheless, many hatchling were eaten by birds, crabs, foxes and other predators. However,

that couldnt make sea turtles become endangered. The study shows that climate change is their

main factor of extinction, three out of seven species of sea turtles are in vulnerable status, one

are endangered and two are critically endangered. Climate change makes sea level rises up every

year. Furthermore, sea level can rise by two different mechanisms due to climate change. First,

the increasing of global temperature causes seawater to expand. It takes up more space; as a
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result, the expansion and causes a rise of water level. The second mechanism is the melting of

ice over land, which also adds water to the ocean. Scientists have found that global sea level has

been steadily rising since 1900 at a rate of at least 0.04 to 0.1 inches per year (National Ocean

Service, 2015). Consequently, the rise of sea level will impact sea turtles nesting beach. Sea

turtles will return to their birth place when they are going to spawn, but when they come back

the areas are gone. Undoubtedly, there are fewer than 1500 females nesting throughout the

Pacific Rim, decreasing number of sea turtle. In 1970, scientist came across the fact that sea

turtle hatchling have environmental sex determination which means the sex of sea turtle

hatchling depend on the the temperature of their nest. Eggs incubated above a temperature of

about 30 degrees celsius evolve into females while those below 30 degrees celsius evolve into

males. The eggs in the lower part of the nest, which are cooler, will become males. Also, the

eggs in the upper, warmer part of the nest will become females. On the other hand, there will be

more female than male hatchling due to the warmer temperature creating a appreciable treat to

genetic diversity. Warmer ocean water negatively affect food resources for sea turtles. Coral

reefs, which are the major food resources of turtle, are destroyed. As a result of rising

temperatures, coral reef are suffered from bleaching. Almost half of the coral reef ecosystem are

in poor condition. As a consequence, sea turtles do not have enough food resources and will die

of hunger.

Humans

Number of human population keeps rising up every year. Human have altered

worlds ecosystem for ages. As human population rises, more buildings are constructed to serve

their needs. They deforest to get more residential area which destroy other living things habitats.
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Comparing the extent of Earths wilderness area in 1993 and 2009, documenting almost a 30%

loss in South America and a 10% loos globally (Watson, 2016). The great example for this factor

is the sumatran tiger. Sumatran tiger is the Indonesias last tiger species, having actual

population as low as four hundred individual. They are considered to be a critically endangered

species. And, their population is diminishing rapidly due to the lost of its habitat. They can be

found on Indonesian island of Sumatra only. Recently, agriculture is growing abruptly causing

the great lost of forest. Acacia plantation and oil palm plantation are impinging on its habitat, as

the jungle is cleared to make way for these commercial trees. The sumatran tigers are holding on

for survival in the remaining patches of forest on the island of Sumatra. In addition, hunting is

another factor from human that result in animal extinction. Still, the sumatran tigers is an

example. People not only are destructing their habitat, but also are killing them straight away.

The body parts of sumatran tiger are one of the most wanted products in black market. Although

it is illegal to hunt sumatran tiger, but it cannot stop the poaching of these animals for tiger

products. There is high demand for their use in Chinese medicine. Tigers bones are not only

found in China but also found in South Korea, Taiwan, and North America. The skin of a

sumatran tiger is believed to posses magical power, protecting owner from black magic. Their

bones are used as a treatment for rheumatism, disease marked by inflammation and pain in the

joints, muscles, or fibrous tissue. Also, the tigers penis is considered an aphrodisiac when

soaked in wine. There are other animals which were hunted by human as same as sumatran tiger

such as dodo bird, Zanzibar leopard, and North-Atlantic right whale. North-Atlantic right whale

is also being hunted due to their rich in oil body. They swim slowly and stay close to land which

make the hunter chose them to be their prey. Even though, they are large animals but they can

also become accidentally caught by fishing nets. This can make the whale injured or even died.
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The last thing that people create which makes animals went extinct is pollution. Pollution can be

divided into many parts, for instance, noise pollution, air pollution, ocean pollution and soil

pollution. These pollution can make animals suffering. The North-Atlantic right whale is one of

the most endangered of all large whales, and there is no signs of recovery with only three

hundred to three hundred fifty individuals left. Underwater noise created by passing ship and oil

rig will hinder the ability of whales communication. For whale, listening is as important as

seeing for human. As a consequence, the whales are having a hard time hearing each other which

can affect their ability to find food and mates, navigate, avoid predator and take care of their

young. The whale can be found near coastal, and it is more likely to suffer from impacts of

human activities. Furthermore, a potentially toxic, dioxin-like compound, is affected to

reproduction and created disease. In conclusion, Human is one of the most important factor that

led to animals extinction. People wants is killing the whole species of animal carelessly.

Invasive Species

As a matter of fact, invasive species is the third factor of animal extinction. For the

definition of the word invasive species, it means animals or plants from another region of the

world that do not belong to their new environment which caused harm. They can be introduced

to an area by ship, wood products, or pet trade. Invasive species can lead to the extinction of

native plants and animals, destroying their biodiversity, competing with native organisms for

limited resources, and permanently altering habitats. Human and the transportation that they

used to travel quickly around the world often carry uninvited species, and the uninvited species

will be spread throughout the new ecosystem. As an illustration, zebra mussels, originally from

Europe, are small animals that attached to the solid surface in water. They were transferred by
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the ballast water of ocean-going ships and also by man-made canals, which then brought them to

another ecosystem. Their diet is tiny food particles which is plankton that floating in the water.

When the zebra mussels diffuse all over the area, the water will run out of plankton. This make

the native species such as larval fish have no food to eat. In addition, they will increase the

clarity of the water, allowing sunlight to penetrate deeper which make the aquatic vegetation

growing faster. Moreover, many zebra mussels will attach to other native mussels which later

will die out. Besides, zebra mussels can reproduce as many as five million eggs in their life time.

As a result, the easily reproduce zebra mussels are all over the water causing harm to the native

species. Furthermore, New Zealands national symbol, kiwis, is becoming endangered and

rapidly disappeared due to the invasive species. They were harmed by the stoats which is also

known as ermines or weasels. It is the main predator for kiwi birds. They first arrived in New

Zealand in 19th century, and are used to control the rabbits and hares population. As the stoats

extend their range throughout the island, they not only are the rabbits eater, but also found new

and more delicious meal which is kiwi birds. As a consequence, the number of kiwis population

suddenly decreased. The ninety percent of chicks were likely eaten by stoats because they cannot

defense themselves. In day time kiwi birds usually live in dens, and in night time they live in

their nest which is located in burrows and hollow logs or under dense vegetation. Additionally,

kiwi birds cannot fly, this disability make them easier to get caught by dogs. All dogs are

potentially kiwi killers, they attracted to the strong distinctive scent of kiwi. The dogs may not

mean to kill the kiwis but the kiwi can be simply crashed in dogs jaw because they do not have

breastbone. Not only dogs that kill kiwi birds, but also cats and ferrets that kill kiwi birds. When

invasive species entered other biodiversity, they are uncontrollable. They will spread in every

part of the area and kill the native species who cannot adapt to the new surrounding.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, animals extinction can have many causes but the three main factors

are climate change, humans activities, and invasive species. Presently, the temperature suddenly

changes and the seasons are not the same. The seasons are changing their beginning from one

month to another month with out any sign. When the seasons changes, the animal that cannot

adapt themselves to get along with the change will die. Furthermore, their food chain will be

messed up due to the change of seasons. Additionally, our world keeps changing and human

population keep rising every year. Human is another main part that make the world change and

affect the animals life. People expanded their residential area by deforesting, lessen the forest

area. However, the forest is the only habitat for wild animals. If there is no forest, there will not

be any wild animals left. Moreover, people also do hunting both for entertaining themselves and

for selling because some rare animals may be very high in price, even though they are illegal to

hunt. According to the sentences above, people sometimes straightly kill the animal, yet

sometimes indirectly destroy their species both with and without willing to kill them. As a

further matter, invasive species is another main part of the factors that make native species

become extinct. They often disturb the native species in many ways such as food and habitat.

The native species will have to compete with the invasive species for food, and have to survive

without being eaten by the predators that are invited to the area. Also, they will disrupt and ruin

the food chain of the new biodiversity that they have entered. There are many examples of

animals that is already extinct due to these factors from the past. If these problems are still going

on, more and more animals will become endangered and extinct soon.
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References

Characteristics of world weather and climate. (2014) Retrieved from

http://www.climateandweather.net/global-warming/climate-change-and-animals.html

Craig K. (2017). Tigers in Crisis. Retrieved from

http://www.tigersincrisis.com/sumatran_tiger.htm

EnvironmentalScience.org. (2017). Invasive Species: How They Affect the Environment.

Retrieved from

http://www.environmentalscience.org/invasive-species

Facts and threats to kiwi. (N.D.). Retrieved from

http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/kiwi/facts/

Global Greenhouse Warming. (2017). Climate Change and Sea Turtles. Retrieved from

http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/climate-change-and-sea-turtles.html

Global Warming & Sea Turtles. (N.D.) Retrieved from

http://www.seeturtles.org/global-warming/

National Geographic Society. (2017). Right Whales. Retrieved from

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/right-whales/
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National Wildlife Federation. (2017). Invasive Species. Retrieved from

https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Threats-to-Wildlife/Invasive-Species.aspx

Sea Turtle Conservancy. (2015). Information About Sea Turtles: Threats from Climate Change.

Retrieved from

https://conserveturtles.org/information-sea-turtles-threats-climate-change/

Shaoni B. (16 March 2004). Sumatran tiger being hunted to extinction. Retrieved from

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4779-sumatran-tiger-being-hunted-to-extinction/

Stoat facts. (4 June 2016). Retrieved from

http://predatorfreenz.org/whats-the-story-about-stoats/

World Wildlife Fund. (2017). SPECIES: SEA TURTLE. Retrieved from

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sea-turtle

World Wildlife Fund. (2017). TREATS: POLLUTION. Retrieved from

https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/pollution

World Wildlife Fund. (2017). TREATS: DEFORESTATION. Retrieved from

https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation
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World Wildlife Fund. (2017). TIGER: SUMATRAN TIGER. Retrieved from

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sumatran-tiger

World Wildlife Fund. (2017). WHALE: NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE. Retrieved from

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/north-atlantic-right-whale

WWF - World Wide Fund For Nature. (2017). North Atlantic Right Whale. Retrieved from

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/cetaceans/about/right_whales/

north_atlantic_right_whale/
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Appendix