Mountain Gorilla

Mountain gorillas are so lucky. Their habitat is a lush mountain forest, high up in the Virunga mountains of Africa, whereas my habitat is boring Canada. I wish we could trade, but we both know the answer to that.

Male gorillas protect their families from any threats. The leader of the typical group is called a silverback. Do you see the hair on his back? Yeah, that turns from black to a silver-gray color when he matures. This process usually happens when he is 11-13 years old. Mountain gorillas spend the majority of their time eating plants, insects and worms.

Most people (including myself), sadly stereotype gorillas. When someone says "Gorilla" I automatically think of chest pounding, roaring and bared teeth, but research shows that gorillas are actually gentle and peaceful.That just goes to show you, "Never judge a book by it's cover".

These gorillas DO NOT live a peaceful life at all though. They are hunted for the sake of food or for trophies. Do you see that beautiful background in the picture above? Right now they are being cut down for farmland. Less than 650 of these gorillas are left in the wild today.

If you want to learn more about these gorillas (You know you do!) Click here.

North Pacific Right Whale

According to the Center For Biological Diversity, the North Pacific right whale is the most endangered whale on Earth. These whales are extremely large; the average length is a whopping 18.3 meters! Over 15,000 of these whales have been killed by whalers. Yeah, that's right... 15,000.

Right whales usually travel alone or in very small groups and since there are very few of these whales left, this is a HUGE threat. When disasters occur such as oil spills, this can easily wipe out the population of these whales. Did you know that? 

Where can you find these North Pacific right whales? So far, there is only one location. It's a small area in the southeastern Bering Sea. 

Click away for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pacific_Right_Whale 

Hunter By: Richard Belis

the hunter,
has the gun in his cold hands,
The hunter waits for his prey,

The hunter wants to kill a harmless animal,
For what the fun?for the sport,
I don't know,

But when the animal knows its being hunted, 

it freezes on the spot, 

it sweats and can't move its head, 

so stiff and afraid, 

and he knows one shot and his whole life is done, 

so why, why kill a harmless animal, 

It only loves and is beautiful, 

just think if you were that animal, 

how would it feel knowing,
you might just die tomorrow.... 

Many animals are on the endangered species list because of us. We hunt these animals to make money for ourselves, or even for the thrill of killing. In my opinion, it's alright to hunt animals but you have to draw the line at some point. If you keep hunting, and hunting, and hunting, well there just won't be enough animals left, will there?

To all the hunters out there, think about that the next time you go on your trip.

Javan Rhinoceros

Have you ever heard of a Javan rhinoceros? Probably not because they are on the edge of extinction. There are only 40 of these one- horned mammals left on Earth and there are none in captivity. Javan rhinoceros's live in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia and if a natural disaster shall hit this park, this species will be gone forever. Has this ever occurred to you?

How did Javan rhinoceros's become so endangered is the question. Humans play a big part on our animals' habitats. With our population rapidly rising, and poachers threatening to cease the existence of Javan rhino's, these poor guys don't have anywhere to go except to be gone.

With the very few rhino's that are still alive, we need to make an urgent rhinoceros project A.S.A.P. You can help save these rhino's by clicking on the link below to donate to WWF's rhinoceros project :
https://support.worldwildlife.org/site/Donation24700.donation=form1&df_id=4700&s_src=AWE1108GD90R

P.S. On WWF's website, you can adopt a rhino!Wouldn't that be so awesome if you could say you have a pet rhino?

P.S.S. If you want to learn more about these fantastic animals, be sure to check out this way cool video!
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=7dl3f8L6fAs&feature=fvst&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Asian Lion

Once upon a time, India's Gir Forest was a royal hunting ground.Thank gosh that today, they made it into a protected reserve. If not, they could've already been extinct! They used to prowl large areas from India to the Middle East. Today, an insufficient number of only 200 - 260 of these mammals survive in the wild- not nearly as many as before. Not to mention that 200 live in zoos.

Did you know that lions are a bigger, more dangerous form of your little kitten Fur Ball at home? I don't really think they look alike...but then again that's just me. Anyways, they are the only type of cat that live together in groups. These groups are called prides and they are usually made of 3 men, up to 12 women and the young ones. So basically, these prides are the same as our families. As the younger men grow up, they start to leave the family pride and make their own. They do this by taking over another group lead by a male.

How can you tell a male Asian lion to a female Asian lion,you ask? Well, the males are the only ones who have manes- the fringe of hair that encircles their heads. The job of the male is to protect their prides territory by urinating, chase off intruders and roar menacingly to warn them too. Females are the hunters of their prides.

Giant Panda

Have you ever heard the quote "Your days are numbered?". There are approximately 1,000 giant panda bears (also know as pandas) left in the wild and their days actually are numbered.This is no laughing matter guys. Everyday this number is rapidly going down because of our doings. Did you realise that?

As we continue with our everyday lives of farming, logging and developing land higher up on mountain slopes, at the same time we are killing our beautiful pandas. The giant panda species is dying out because of one major factor: habitat loss. Pandas usually starve to death because as the bamboo dies off naturally, they cannot locate another area where the bamboo species thrive. Stop what you're doing before it's too late!

Today, an organization has been formed to help save our pandas and many other endangered species. Do you want to help them too? To donate to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) please click on the link below:

http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/support_wwf/donate/

The Alligator Snapping Turtle

The Alligator Snapping Turtle is the largest
freshwater turtle in North America.

They are known as the"dinosaurs of the turtle world" and just like dinosaurs, they are becoming extinct-this time because of us. Why were they were given these names? Sharp spikes on their shells that resemble an alligator, snapping jaws, and scaly tail. That's why!

They can be in the canals, lakes and rivers in the U.S waters, but can also be found in Europe and Asia because of the exotic pet trade. You will most likely find Alligator snapping turtles in South Carolina and northern Florida. Every time you throw garbage into a river or flush chemicals down the toilet, you are personally killing these guys! 

Adult alligator snapping turtles don't have any natural predators but because of us, they are on the endangered species list. People capture and sell them in the exotic animal trade and even sadly, kill the alligator snappers to sell the meat and shells. It makes me so sad that because of what we're doing, these scary looking guys won't be on Earth with us in the future. We have to stop this now! The population is rapidly diminishing because of loss of habitat and unregulated harvesting. Do you really want that? 

Today, many places in America protect the turtles in most of their ranges but there are still some places that allow people to hunt them. These animals need our help! How can we help these animals from ceasing to exist? We can do our part in keeping their habitats clean, help restore their wetland area, try to avoid water pollution, and even organize a community day where we can clean up the streams. Think twice before you make an action that can harm many species.