Endangered Species day

Today is endangered species day. An endangered species is one that is nearly extinct and might go extinct soon. Endangered species day is a day to find out about endangered animals and see if there are things we can do to help. We thought we would have a look at which animals are the most endangered in the world and in the UK.

The most endangered animal in the world at the moment is called a Vaquita, which is a type of Porpoise.

It is thought that there might only be 9 left in the wild. They have mostly been killed by fishing nets.

Amur leopards are also critically endangered and there are less than 70 of them in the wild. Humans are their biggest threat because people hunt them for their fur, and fires caused by humans destroy their habitat. Other animals that are critically endangered include the Javan rhinoceros, the mountain gorilla, and the Leatherback turtle.

In the UK, the most endangered animal is the puffin. Climate change is thought to be the main reason that these birds are dying out. Sea water around the UK is getting warmer, causing plankton to die out, so there are less sand eels who normally eat plankton and then less puffins who eat the sand eels. Other endangered animals in the UK include the water vole, Scottish wildcat, and the hazel dormouse.

You might not think it matters if a few species go extinct, but it seems unfair that a lot of these animals are endangered because of things that humans do. As well as this, if some species go extinct it will have an effect on the other plants and animals in an area and that could cause more things to go extinct or could mean that the area changes a lot.

There are a few things we can do to help endangered species. We can find out about them and about what is causing them to be endangered and groups that might be working to help them. We can visit or even help at local nature reserves so that there are safe places for animals to live. We can make our gardens wildlife friendly. And we can recycle so less material is dumped that might end up in the sea to kill animals and less new material needs to be mined. Also by trying to use less energy we can help climate change so hopefully less habitats are destroyed and animals will not go extinct as much.