Endangerment

“The Elusive, Spotted Killing Machine”

This is my 2nd source below and it is the first picture the WCS has taken of a mother snow leopard and her cub in the wild. It was taken with a remote camera in Afghanistan in their natural habitat.

            For my first journal posting I kind of wanted to give some background on why I made a blog about wildlife. Ever since I can remember, I have loved other animals besides my own species. While I was growing up I remember watching Steve Irwin and his wife on “The Crocodile Hunter” and I loved it. Nature and wildlife always seemed so interesting to me so any chance I could get I would watch shows on Animal Planet or visit the local zoos. As I got older I started understanding how the world works and that some animals were either completely gone from the planet or were in danger of being gone like I was. That made me start wondering, “why are these beautiful creatures like me disappearing?”

            I’m going to focus mostly on wild cats because so many of them are endangered or extinct as it is, and I think that they are so beautiful. I don’t want this to be super factual and boring, but somewhat about my experiences seeing these wild animals and my interest in them. I figured I would start with the snow leopard since that’s what I am. It’s somewhat sad to see them caged up when I’m running free but it’s a great chance to see others up close and admire their beauty since I don’t find many friends in the wild.  Every time I go to a zoo and look at a snow leopard I can’t get over their huge paws and gigantic tail. Yeah, I know that I have the same huge paws and gigantic tail but who wouldn’t love looking at them?

I know snow leopards like me live in Asia so the chances of me or anyone else seeing one in the wild is pretty slim. I’ve read articles and seen TV shows that amazingly got footage of snow leopards in the wild. We are very shy and hidden for the most part so I can imagine how hard it is for someone to get a picture or video of us in the wild. Plus we are endangered so there are only a few thousand of us left, including ones in captivity. Just like other wild cats, we can catch and kill prey that are 2 or even 3 times heavier than we are which I think is pretty cool. A funny fact about us is that they can’t roar like other big cats (lions, tigers, etc.) or purr like housecats so we kind of fall in the middle by making growling, hissing, and moaning noises. (http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/assets/uploads/animals/pdf/SnowLeopard.pdf) I think that makes us cooler because we’re slightly different from other wild cats. But unfortunately we’re similar to other wild cats because we are hunted for our beautiful fur and organs which is a cause of our endangerment as well the destruction of our habitat. We can’t survive without a habitat to live in…

 This is a YouTube video showing a snow leopard hunting and it's my 3rd source below. If you start watching right before the 2:00 minute mark that's right when the snow leopard starts showing it's awesome hunting skills while leaping down the mountainous terrain.

1. “Cat Facts.” snowleopard.org. 2012. The Snow Leopard Trust. 27 January 2012. <http://www.snowleopard.org/catfactsclassroom/catfacts>.

            This website is dedicated to studying and protecting the snow leopard. The particular page I chose to cite has pretty much any information known about snow leopards. This page had snow leopard physical descriptions, threats, habitat, behavior, prey, and breeding information. I found all of these sub-topics useful because it basically told me everything I needed to know about snow leopards even though I think I already know everything!

            Overall, this website gives facts about the snow leopard and reasons for why it’s endangered. I found it to be extremely useful for my project because it encompasses everything that I’m trying to do in my blog. I chose an animal to go into detail about and this website has plenty of details, as well as tips for getting involved in protecting snow leopards like me. I really liked that they didn’t just have facts about us but that they are an actual organization that actively tries to educate others about snow leopards and how to help them. I hope that my blog can educate others about endangered animals like me and possibly interest others in the subject so we can get more help.

2. Gerken, James. “Snow Leopard Photo Taken in Afghanistan of Mother and Cub.” Huffington Post. 4 January 2012. 4 January 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/snow-leopard-photo-afghanistan_n_1181089.html>.

            This online article is an example of how rare it is to get a picture of a snow leopard (and her cub) in the wild. According to the article, this is the first picture the Wildlife Conservation Society has taken of a mother snow leopard and her cub in the wild since they started their conservation efforts in Afghanistan 6 years ago. The article also provides the picture that the WCS took and I swear that isn’t me in the picture…

            I read this article before I even started this project and I found it really interesting since I don’t remember seeing a camera anywhere. Anyways, the article itself says that there are only about 4,080 to 6,590 of us left in the entire world which saddens me. I was glad to see that the WCS got pictures of other snow leopards that live near me which gives me hope that we can survive. Even though the article was short, it can give people a better understanding of how few of us are left and how hard it is to come across one of us nowadays. Plus don’t my cub and I look adorable in the picture?

3. “Planet Earth ~ Snow Leopard of Pakistan.” youtube.com. 10 January 2010. YouTube – Broadcast Yourself. 1 February 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiQcSIF3l9E>.

            This is a YouTube video that shows how we live and hunt in the cold, mountainous habitat that we call home. This video is originally from a show called Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel. I thought it was cool to see another snow leopard in action because it looks pretty badass if you ask me. I wouldn’t have let my prey get away though.

            I feel like this video gives others an insight into our way of life and what magnificent creatures we are. Sometimes I can’t believe how fast I can move on that rocky terrain and how far I can jump to catch prey. Hopefully others will be amazed by this video too and want to learn more about us. I couldn’t ask for a better video to show how awesome snow leopards are.

"The Second Largest Tiger in the World"

This is a collage I made (using www.photovisi.com) comparing the Bengal house cat species with the wild Bengal Tiger. The house cat on the left is my friend in New York and the Bengal Tiger on the right is my friend in India.

           If you didn’t know, all species of wild tigers are endangered but out of all of the tiger species the Bengal Tiger has the most left. I wanted this posting to focus on the Bengal Tiger because there is still time to learn about them and help them before they face the same fate as the other wild tiger species. It makes me wonder, “why are there more Bengal Tigers left than other tiger species?” and “what threats do the Bengal Tigers face?” so I can have a better understanding of the Bengal Tiger as well as other tiger species. We wild cats have to stick together! Bengal Tigers are such beautiful creatures (not more beautiful than me of course) but they are ferocious and deadly too. I mean come on have you seen their teeth?! They scare me even though Bengal Tigers aren’t the biggest wild cats in the world. They take second place to the Siberian Tiger but hey, second place isn’t that bad if you ask me.

            Bengal Tigers actually share some things in common with me. Their habitat overlaps with mine in some places since they live in Southern Asia but most of them live in India. They’re really sneaky and quiet like I am too which is fun when we play hide and seek together. But they are a hell of a lot bigger than I am when it comes to size. Even female Bengal Tigers can weigh up to 300 pounds which is way heavier than me, even on a bad day! Male Bengal Tigers tip the scales at 500 to 600 pounds (http://www.tigersincrisis.com/bengal_tiger.htm). You wouldn’t want to be in a fight with one of those bad boys, that’s for sure. The color of their coat can vary just like mine. Their fur can be anywhere from the typical orange and black to white, gray, and brown coloration. I’m sure you know that they have a lot of stripes but something cool about their stripes is that every tiger’s stripes are different just like the human fingerprint. Something funny about them is that they actually like water and will hunt in the water (http://www.cougarmountainzoo.org/The%20Animals/tigerfact.aspx). Seriously, what kind of cat actually likes water?

            On a more serious note, Bengal Tigers and all other tigers face many of the same threats that I do. There used to be 8 tiger species in the world but now there are only 5 after the other 3 species went extinct in the 1900’s. On top of that, there used to be hundreds of thousands of tigers across the world but sadly there are only around 2,000 to 3,000 left (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bengal-tiger/). So what factors contribute to this loss? Poaching and loss of habitat is always a problem. Humans see tigers and other wild creatures as trophies instead of admiring their beauty from afar. They are also hunted for their fur, organs, and bones to be used in Asian medicines. Global warming causes the tigers to relocate to different locations where they are more likely to come into contact with humans. Now it’s time to end this on a good note. Even though tigers have lost so much of their population and some of their species, a study has shown that tigers in India still have a lot of genetic viability (http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/tiger.php). In English, that means that they still have a chance of surviving and being saved because of their genes. It means that their genes can withstand the loss of their population and remain diverse so they can continue to survive.

 This is a YouTube video showing a tigress hunting for herself and her cubs and it is my 1st source below. It gets more interesting if you start watching at about the 5:30 minute mark where she gets the advantage to pounce and kill her prey.

1. "(HD) Tigress Hunting 1 of 4!" youtube.com. 7 August 2009. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 4 February 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9icnGsUbvA>.

            This is a YouTube video showing a tigress hunting in her natural habitat. It shows what obstacles she faces when hunting since other animals give warning calls when she is spotted. The video also shows how she recovers from that by being a patient hunter and waiting until she has the advantage. Once she sees the opportunity, she leaps and pounces on her prey and drags it into the water to kill it.

            This video connects to my posting by showing the tigress in action. It shows how she moves and how she plans her attack even while facing problems along the way. This video can show others the beautiful physical characteristics of a Bengal Tiger and how she survives and provides for her cubs despite the fact that her population continues to drop. I also like that the video describes how she hides from her prey as well as other facts about her species.

2. “Bengal Tiger.” 1996-2012. National Geographic Society. 4 February 2012. <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bengal-tiger/>.

            This webpage is from National Geographic and gives a lot of information about the Bengal Tiger species. Some things that the website focuses on is the history of the Bengal Tiger, many facts about their habitat, and common characteristics about the tigers. There are also some fun facts about how much they can eat in one sitting and how they hunt. Something cool on this webpage is that there is an audio clip of a Bengal Tiger speaking/roaring.

            It’s obvious that this webpage gives a lot of facts that connect to my topic from characteristics of the Bengal Tiger to its history. I really liked that it gave a short history about all tigers and how they have become endangered or extinct over time. A lot of the information from this website answers my question in my posting about what threats the Bengal Tiger faces and how they continue to survive with things like sneaky hunting techniques.

3.  “Tiger Facts and Sound- Panthera tigris.” 2012. Defenders of Wildlife. 4 February 2012. <http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/tiger.php>.

            This is another webpage by a wildlife conservation group called Defenders of Wildlife. It also gives a lot of information about the Bengal Tiger species as well as random fun facts. It describes things like their habitat range, physical characteristics, their lifespan, comparisons to other tiger species, their diet, behavior, and threats that they face as a species. I really liked that they had a section called “Reasons for Hope” for a more optimistic point of view. Lastly, the webpage has links for adopting tigers and taking action to help protect them.

            Since there are massive amounts of information about the Bengal Tiger, this webpage tells you pretty much anything you want to know about Bengal Tigers as well as other tigers. This connects with my posting because it can tell you a lot about the tiger’s behavior and why they are disappearing which is extremely important since all tiger species are endangered or extinct now. There is a tiger range map of where they lived in the past and where they live now. Something interesting that I learned from it, which connects to the collage I made for this posting, is that tigers keep their claws sharp by pulling them into a protective covering just like housecats do!

"Can You Run Over 65 mph?"

This is a picture of a cheetah and her three cubs. You can notice the different body type that the cheetah has compared to other wild cats like the snow leopard (me) and the tiger. Aren't they beautiful? (http://true-wildlife.blogspot.com/2011/02/cheetah.html)

            I know the first thing that comes to mind when I think about a cheetah is their amazing ability to run over 65 mph. Sadly, it doesn’t matter how fast they can run when they can’t run away from the threats that their species face. So what kinds of threats do they face and why are they endangered? Are those threats the same or similar to the threats that my species and the tiger species face? These threats are important to know so they can be prevented. If all of these wild creatures are facing the same threats, which a lot of them are, it proves that there is a pattern of problems that causes so many species to become endangered or extinct. You would be amazed by how the cheetah’s body works to allow it to run as fast as cars can go which makes it so much more devastating that they are endangered. A fun fact I learned about them is that they can purr like housecats but not roar like lions, how funny.

            I watched a BBC video about the cheetah called “Inside the Perfect Predator” that taught me a lot of things I didn’t know about the cheetah. I like to think that I know just about everything about wild cats since hello, I am one but I always seem to learn something new! So this video was really awesome because it described a lot of adaptations that the cheetah’s body has to run so fast like larger lungs to get more oxygen. They also have loose hip and shoulder joints, an elastic spine, and huge leg muscles that contract quicker than normal muscles (http://www.cheetah.org/?nd=about). But they can only run for short periods of time, usually around 20 seconds, because their muscles cramp up from the buildup of lactic acid like when humans do that thing called “working out”. Nowadays they mostly live in sub-Saharan Africa so I never get to see them unless they are in a zoo. But there are around 10,000 to 12,000 of them left in the world which is quite a bit more than my species and the tiger species. They weigh about the same as I do but they have more slender bodies specifically fit for their fast speed and hunting techniques.

            Cheetahs face a lot of the same threats that me and other wild cats (and other wild animals) do. They have habitat loss because of humans and they deal with human conflicts as well. A lot of the times humans fear wild cats like me and the cheetah because we’re predators or they get mad because we kill their livestock. But if you really think about it, we were here first and we have to eat too. It’s all part of the balance in the ecosystem and without predators like us the food chain will be messed up. Most of us live secluded lives by trying to stay away from humans and not attacking them them but it’s difficult to do that when they keep invading our territory. Luckily, some humans called conservationists have worked with farmers in a country called Namibia to coexist with the cheetah population. This and other efforts have actually stabilized the cheetah population in this country which gives hope for the future of this animal and all other animals that are endangered (http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/cheetah.php).

This is a YouTube video showing a cheetah hunting. It describes a lot of physical adaptations the cheetah has to run as fast as it does. Slow motion is used to show how they are actually airborne while hunting.

1. "Cheetah chases Gazelle – Inside the Perfect Predator - BBC.” YouTube.com. 14 August 2011. YouTube – Broadcast Yourself. 14 February 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRxsP2YMaOI>.

            This video shows a cheetah in the process of hunting and killing a gazelle. Throughout the video there are many facts given about how the cheetah’s body works and how it is specialized for running at high speeds. The video also uses slow motion to show how the cheetah is airborne while running and how the cheetah darts back and forth to follow its prey. The slow motion and point of view that the video uses is a perfect way to capture the hunting capabilities and techniques of the cheetah.

            I really liked this video because it went into detail about why the cheetah can run as fast as it can. Everyone knows that the cheetah can run really fast but I don’t think a lot of people know why they can. The video even showed animations of what their lungs, muscles, joints, and spine look like while they are hunting. I hope that others will be as amazed by this as I am because it would be a tragedy if we lost a creature as incredible as this.

2. “Cheetah Facts- Acinonyx jubatus.” 2012. Defenders of Wildlife. 14 February 2012. <http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/cheetah.php>.

            This is a website that I have used as a source for another posting. It’s a webpage by a wildlife conservation group called Defenders of Wildlife. It gives a lot of information about the cheetah as well as random fun facts. Some of the things you can learn about the cheetah from this website are their diet, population, habitat, behavior, threats, and general physical characteristics. It also has a “Reasons for Hope” section that talks about some ways people have helped save cheetahs with laws and other protective measures.

            I feel that this website connects to my subject because it tells you pretty much anything you want to know about cheetahs. I liked that there were random facts as side notes like that cheetahs can purr like housecats but not roar like other big cats. This website also listed common threats to the cheetah that are very similar to the threats that my species and the tiger species face. There is some history about the cheetah and how much their population has declined in the past 100 years which is very relevant to my topic of endangerment.

3. “Cheetah Fact Sheet.” 2012. Cheetah.org. 14 February 2012. <http://www.cheetah.org/?nd=cheetah_facts>.

            This is another website that has a lot of facts about cheetahs. This specific page called “Cheetah Fact Sheet” gives information about the cheetah’s habitat, range, physical descriptions, their history with humans, conservation efforts, and challenges that they face. This page doesn’t have as many sub-topics but it goes into a lot more detail. The whole website is dedicated to the cheetah so there are other pages that introduce the cheetah, describe the problem behind their endangerment, and even a frequently asked questions page for people that want to know more about the cheetah.

            The thing that I liked most about this webpage was that it was very detailed and it had an interesting section about how humans and cheetahs have interacted throughout history. The section about other survival challenges explained how the cheetah lacks genetic diversity which leaves them less able to adapt to the changing environment. Also, the specific page that I chose to cite has a picture of a mother cheetah and her young cubs. This picture shows what the cubs look like when they are younger and how protective their mother is of them. Plus they are so adorable!