Audience: Elementary and Middle School Students
Tigers have been around for over two million years. Unfortunately, some tiger species are on the brink of existence. Photo by Frida Lannerström from Unsplash.
Weighing up to 308 pounds, Sumatran tigers are the smallest and darkest tigers in the world. Present at the top of the food chain, they eat baby elephants, monkeys, wild pigs, and deer. In fact, the Sumatran stripe line, which is the narrowest of all tigers, aids in camouflaging and catching all their prey. The Sumatran tigers remain the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, as the other two species, the Bali and Javan tigers, have gone extinct. Because of poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict, Sumatran tigers are now listed as Critically Endangered, with less than 600 of them remaining in the wild.
An endangered species is one that is seriously at risk of going extinct. An extinct species is a species that no longer has living members.
So far, there have been five mass extinctions on Earth, which occur when a large number of species disappear in a relatively short amount of time. Human activities could potentially contribute to a sixth mass extinction. According to the IUCN Red List, an online database that provides a comprehensive list of species and their status, over 44,000 species are threatened with extinction. The causes for a species’ extinction now are very different from what they were millions of years ago. For example, evidence suggests that dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago due to an asteroid that hit Earth. But now, human interference has increased extinction rates for drastically different reasons, one of which is industrialization: the shift from farming to using factories to make products. Industrialization has led to water pollution and the creation of dams, which have resulted in many animals becoming endangered, including the foothill yellow-legged frog, Chinese river dolphin, and sockeye salmon. Additionally, poaching, which is the illegal hunting, capturing, and/or killing of animals, and overhunting have disrupted the balance of nature and decreased the population of many species.
The IUCN classifies species into one of nine categories: Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern, Data Deficient and Not Evaluated. If a species is in one these three categories – Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered – it could potentially become extinct. The Sumatran Tiger is listed as Critically Endangered because they have one of the highest risks of going extinct. Indian Elephants are considered Endangered because they are threatened with extinction — but not to the extent of those who are critically endangered. Giant pandas are classified as vulnerable, which means that they could potentially become endangered in the near future unless their reproduction and survival rates improve.
Because a species being endangered is of critical concern, action is being taken to protect and recover endangered and threatened species. Recovery is the process of restoring endangered
and threatened species until they no longer need protection from the Endangered Species Act, which conserves endangered and threatened species and their ecosystems and is the main way the government protects endangered species. The Endangered Species Act has been very successful – less than 1% of the species targeted by the act have gone extinct.
Worldwide actions taken to recover endangered and threatened species include developing and implementing recovery plans, monitoring the status of listed species, having species conservation, and doing scientific research to learn more about the listed species or understanding activities that would increase the survival of that species.
As a member of the general population, you too can prevent species from going extinct and assist in their recovery. There are a variety of ways you can do this – learn about endangered species in your area and the threats they face, limit or entirely stop purchasing items made from endangered species, reduce your water consumption and amount of pollution you generate by opting for clean energy alternatives, or join a local organization that aims to maintain a clean and healthy habitat for animals!
Bibliography:
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Rae, S., & Hendry, L. (n.d.). What killed the dinosaurs? Natural History Museum. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dinosaur-extinction.html
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Sumatran tiger facts for kids. Sumatran tiger Facts for Kids. (n.d.). https://kids.kiddle.co/Sumatran_tiger
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