Green Turtles Need Your Help

There are many different types of turtles, but green turtles are one of the most endangered species. My own experience with Green Turtles was snorkeling with two of them recently on one of the Hawaiian islands, Oahu. It was really unique to swim with these gentle giants. Another name for green turtles is “Chelonia Mydas.” Green turtles are green because of the color of the fat under their shells. Green turtles are herbivores and eat nine types of allege and seagrass. Young turtles have been known to eat sponges, seaweed, and jellyfish. Green turtles return to the beaches where they were born to deposit 100-110 eggs in a clutch at a time and do not breed every year. There are only about 800 green turtles living today.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, green turtles were used as a source of food, tools, and ornaments by early Hawaiians. Green turtles are also endangered because of poaching, artificial lighting, beach nourishment (disturbing nests), pollution, drowning in fishermen’s nets, and predators of both the turtles and their eggs. But the number one killer of green turtles is fibropapilloma tumors. Fibropapilloma tumors grow on a turtle until it is debilitated. Baby turtles find their way to the ocean by the light reflected off of it. Artificial lighting from street lamps, buildings, and beachfront properties has a disorienting effect on baby turtles. Some turtles abort nesting in lighted areas and with fewer and fewer beaches undisturbed, they have less places to lay their eggs.

Want to know how to help the Green Turtles or find out more about them? Look at these links:

Turtles.org

Green Turtles at Wikipedia

Sea Turtle Inc.

Marine Conservation Society turtle page

Marine Conservation Society turtle adoption

NOAA Kids Times - marine turtle issue

Sea World

World Wildlife Federation

Costa Rica Turtles

Big Bears in Big Danger--The Giant Panda

In this article you will find information about one of the world's most endangered bears, the Giant Panda. They live in the Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Gansu provinces of China. They are about 1,600 Giant Pandas living today. More than 160 pandas live in captivity. The Giant Panda’s diet is about 99% bamboo and 1% fruit and meat in the wild. They will eat roots and rodents and even some carion. They are naturally carnivores, but have adapted to eat mostly bamboo. In captivity their diet consists of bamboo, sugarcane, rice gruel, high-fiber biscuits, apples, carrots and sweet potatoes. Giant Pandas need to eat 12 to 32 kilograms of bamboo a day to meet their energy standards.

They are mainly endangered because of habitat loss, hunting and low reproductive rates. Since they eat so much bamboo, they can only live in areas of the wild where it grows. As people move in, the pandas have less and less place to find their food. Giant Pandas often live alone, so they don't mate very often and usually one of the babies doesn't survive. One way you can help the Giant Panda is by learning about them and donating to groups that support and protect these big bears.

Want to see the Giant Panada cam?
National Zoo Panda cam 1
National Zoo Panda cam 2
San Diego Zoo Panda cam

To learn more about Giant Pandas, check out these links:
Giant Pandas at the National Zoo
Wikipedia
San Diego Zoo Animal Bytes

To help Giant Pandas, check out these links:
Smithsonian National Zoo
Panda.org
Defenders of Wildlife Panda Page

Black Footed Ferrets, One of the Rarest Mammals in North America

Black footed ferrets are one of the most endangered mammals in North America. They are the only wild ferrets native to North America. They usually are about 6 inches tall and 18-24 inches long. They can live up to 3-4 years in the wild and 8-9 years in captivity. Twenty-four were released into the wild on December 20, 2007. In 1986, there were only 18 black –footed ferrets in the wild. Today thanks to reintroduction of captive bred ferrets, there are about 700 in the wild and 250 in captivity.

Black footed ferrets are mainly carnivorous and eat around 100 prairie dogs in a year. They raise their young , sleep , and eat in prairie dog burrows. They spend about 90% of their day underground. Black footed ferrets became endangered because of disease and food shortage because prairie dogs were consider a pest and many ranchers set out to eliminate them. When the prairie dogs began to disappear, so did the primary habitat and food source for the black footed ferret.

The black footed ferrets are on their way to recovery. In 2003-2006 wildlife researchers estimated that the population had increased 35%! But they are still endangered today. You can help the black footed ferrets by adopting one online or donating to organizations that are working to protect them, like Ferret Haven , the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program or Prarie Wildlife.

To find out more about black footed ferrets try out these links :

Wildlife Species Information from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Defenders of Wildlife

Smithsonian National Zoological Park (Watch the live Ferret Cam!)

Mountain Gorillas in Danger

Mountain gorillas are one of the most endangered animals in the world. Right now there are only about 650 alive in the entire world. Every time one of them dies, it takes away from their ability to produce healthy young because the gene pool is reduced.

I think Mountain gorillas are interesting because, unlike most gorillas, they are quite friendly.
Mountain gorillas are the largest living primates. They are also the hairiest type of gorillas. The surviving gorillas live in the rainforests of Africa. Mountain gorillas are mainly herbivores and eat over 100 different types of plants. They do not have to drink water often because they get most of their water from the plants they eat. Mountain gorillas are endangered because they are poached for their hands, feet and heads. The young gorillas are captured for zoos or used in research.

Two other ways they have become endangered are habitat loss and through war and civil unrest. The civil wars in African and weak governments in the small countries where the gorillas live, do not have enough resources to protect the gorillas properly. One of the main ways the governments collect money to protect the gorillas is from tourism. War has made tourism less popular in the past ten years.

One way you can help the Mountain gorillas is to contribute time or money to the conservation groups that are trying to help the gorillas or go and see them for yourself!

If you would like to learn more about Mountain gorillas, check out these links:

National Geographic Mountain Gorilla Profile

Wikipedia - Mountain Gorillas

American Wildlife Federation

Gorilla Fund. org