Declining number of monkeys, apes and other primates

A report by the world’s foremost primate authorities, the International Primatological Society, presented the state of primates around the world. They found that of the world’s 63A breakdown showed the following numbers and percentages of primates fell into the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List classification for species as Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered:
• Africa: 63 species and subspecies (37% of all African primates)
• Asia: 120 species and subspecies (71% of all African primates)
• Madagascar: 41 species and subspecies (43% of all Malagasy primates)
• Neotropics: 79 species and subspecies (40% of all Neotropical primates)
© Conservation International, 2008
Causes included habitat destruction, the hunting of primates for food and an illegal wildlife trade.
It’s also important to note that within the various species of apes are sub-species. For example, mountain gorillas are a species of gorilla, and mountain gorilla numbers are incredibly low, approximately 720, according to the International Gorilla Conservation Program.
Gorillas have often been stereotypes as aggressive, yet they are almost the opposite, and as this following award-winning video shows, there is much in their gentle and peaceful nature that humans can relate to.
Gorillas… 98.6% Human, Explore.org, June 2009
4 kinds of primates almost 50 percent are in danger of going extinct

Declining amphibian populations

The Golden Toad of Monteverde, Costa Rica was among the first casualties of amphibian declines. Formerly abundant, it was last seen in 1989
Amphibians are particularly sensitive to changes in the environment. Amphibians have been described as a marker species or the equivalent of “canaries of the coal mines” meaning they provide an important signal to the health of biodiversity; when they are stressed and struggling, biodiversity may be under pressure. When they are doing well, biodiversity is probably healthy.
Unfortunately, as has been feared for many years now, amphibian species are declining at an alarming rate.
As described further on this site’s biodiversity section, causes for such an alarming rate of decline is not entirely natural.

Declining number of penguins

A concern about crashing numbers of a particular species of penguin in recent years, the rockhoppers, shows that there may be numerous complicated factors causing this, and it is not always easy to know for sure. In the Falkland Islands alone, the species numbers have dropped from 600,000 to 420,000 in just 6 years, and down from 1.5 million in 1932. But from all their habitats millions have recently vanished.
Scientists are struggling to wonder whether it is starvation due to overfishing, climate change, a combination, or some other factors affecting this species.

Declining number of polar bears

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature lists toxic pollution, oil exploration, and hunting, as well as climate change, as the threats polar bears face.
Polar bears are found throughout the circumpolar Arctic on pack ice, along or near coasts, and on islands:
The situation has become dire enough for the Bush Administration in the US to propose to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
This itself is an interesting turn of events as the Bush Administration has typically been reluctant to acknowledge concerns about climate change, and a lot of lobbying by environmental groups has led to this proposal.
Earlier in 2006, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) had already put the polar bear on their Red List of Threatened Species.

Near Extinction of Vultures

The BMA noted that in the 1980s, these birds were the most abundant large birds of prey in the world. However, in the last 12 years, the population had crashed by 97%.
In a country where these birds actually provide a useful service by scavenging rotting carcasses, this is seen as a big problem.
How did this happen?
• The anti-inflammatory, diclofenac, (similar to ibuprofen), was used by cattle farmers as a popular cure-all to treat a variety of diseases.
• Vultures feeding on carcasses of cows treated with the drug died of kidney failure as it were a poison for the vultures.
• The use of this medication was “careless and casual.”
Why the careless and casual nature of this medicine use? The article opined that there was only one answer: “ferocious marketing by Big Pharma to help ensure its products were used by the widest possible consumer spectrum.”
(“Big Pharma” refers to the huge multinational pharmaceutical companies that have a lot of influence around the world on various global health issues. This site’s section on pharmaceutical corporations and medical research discusses more about this industry.)

Declining Number of Rhinos

Rhinos are critically endangered

Although almost all species of rhinos have been recognized as critically endangered for many years, the conservation organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) notes that rhino poaching worldwide is poised to hit a 15-year-high driven by Asian demand for horns.
As with the killing of sharks just for their fins, whereby the body is discarded once the fin is cut off the shark, rhinos are often killed just for the horns. In some Asian countries it is wrongly believed the horns have medicinal value.
The IUCN is finding some 3 rhinos a month are being killed. In some places that number is even higher. In Africa, the total rhino population is estimated to be around 18,000 and in India/Nepal only 2,400.

Declining Number of Lions

And another iconic animal, the lion, is also dwindling in numbers. The BBC reports (October 2003) that fewer than 20,000 lions now survive in Africa, compared to 200,000 in the early 1980s.
Sport or trophy hunting was cited as a major cause, whereby males, older or younger, were often targeted. Another reason was the population pressures that have meant encroachment onto lands closer to lions.
Tourism has not really benefited the people of such communities, and so they do not see the benefit in preserving them.