Quarter 1 Article 8

2) Degraded Habitats Push More Species to Extinction Worldwatch Institute

3) World Watch Institute
11/3/2009

5) Miller Chapter: 1, 8, 11

6) Global

7) Recently, a global survey was done on biodiversity and the species across the globe. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature found that 17,291 species are threatened with extinction and 11 species are either fully extinct or extinct out of captivity. These findings were out of 47,677 species across the earth. Annually, these numbers indicate how environmental change is altering natural habitats everywhere. To try and reverse the effects of environmental change, the Wildlife Conservation Society has been starting many breeding programs for endangered species. Some of these programs are happening right in our backyard; in the Bronx Zoo, they are currently working on breeding the Kihansi spray toad. Another example of a newly endangered and maybe extinct species is the French Polynesia Snail; it became extinct because of an intrusive species, the African giant land snail.

8) I was very surprised to read that so many species become extinct and endangered each year. It was also interesting to see that things we learn in class are really applied to the environment we live in; for example, the intrusive species in the Pacific Islands that wiped out several other snail species.

9) Wildlife Conservation Society: The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) endeavors to save wildlife and wild lands though careful use of science, conservation around the world