|
The Blue
Whale: Endangered Giant
By Stacy Leonardo, Michelle
Miyoshi and Alice Schoenau
The blue whale is the largest animal in the world. It
can be from 75 to 80 feet long and weigh an average of 110 tons.
They have mottled blue gray skin, with tapered pectoral fins, large
flukes and an extremely small dorsal fin far down the body.
These cetaceans can be found in every ocean in the world mostly
because they migrate from sea to sea depending on food and season.
Unfortunately, the blue whale is so rare that it is usually seen
only in small groups of two to three. In the 1930s they were hunted for
their large amounts of blubber and oil.
In 1966, however, the International Whaling Commission announced
that the whale was officially protected. Still, there are fewer than
10,000 blue whales today. Now, many people are working to find a way to
take these creatures off of the endangered species list. If the whale
should become extinct, its main source of food, krill, would become over
populous, causing other species to abound. This could upset the balance of the ocean environment. And, most importantly, the world would lose one of the
most beautiful and graceful creatures ever seen.
The Rainforest
By:
Sarah Rodgers & Ashley Granda
We lose approximately 140 species of plants and
animals found in the rainforest each day. We lose 42 million acres of
rainforest each year. From rainforests we get some of the most important
resources, and some of the rarest plants and animals. Rainforests are
destroyed mainly by deforestation, the process of cutting down trees.
Deforestation mainly occurs because of cutting down trees to make room
for farming, grazing land for cattle, and for lumber.
Many animals live in the
rainforest. Many of them are killed due to deforestation, and being
hunted for their pelts. Many rainforest animals contain antibodies to
our medicines.
The most important thing we can do to save the
rainforest is to understand the problems.
We can save our rainforests by donating money to special programs,
buying organic foods, and encourage legislatures to help the rainforest
nations.
Endangered Tigers
By
Casey Pytel
, Wes Whitehead
and Subie Del Rosso
Tigers are the worlds biggest
predator and largest in the cat family.
They are now becoming endangered due to poaching and habitat loss.
They are found in many regions including swamps, forests, and
grasslands, and eat a variety of food from wild boar to cattle.
The biggest threat to tigers is poaching.
People sell tiger parts on the black market for a lot of money.
Many people believe that tiger parts have special powers, and a lot
of them are used in Chinese medicines.
Another threat to tigers is habitat loss. Tigers live in forests where space is reduced from
deforestation. At the end
of the 19th century, there were 100,000 tigers in the world. A recent survey concluded there were only 7,700 left.
The Giant Panda
By Jordan Carter,
Lauren Parsekian and Amber Sinclair
Only about 1,500 Giant Pandas are left. The only place that they can
survive in the wild is in a small section in the middle of China. They
were much more widespread in the lowlands as well, but human population
and habitat destruction now restricts them to the mountain forest
strongholds. Encroachment and poaching continue in many areas despite
laws of protection. Also, the mass flowering and die-off of bamboo, the
only food they eat affects the number of pandas today. Only one young
can be reared at a time, and the females only come into season for about
3 days every year. Although the lovable and charismatic panda is one of
the most popular animals in the world, it is also one of the most
endangered.
THE CHIMPANZEES
by, Penny Bhathal & Heather Smilde.
The Chimps need your help to survive! The chimpanzees are called
our closest relatives. There is only a difference of 1.4% between the
DNA of the chimps and humans. There used to be about one million
chimpanzees, living Africa, fifty years ago. Now only 150,000 of the
million are left. The number one cause of the decreasing chimps is
hunting.
Chimps are omnivores, meaning they eat both meat and plants.
The life cycle of the chimpanzees is also a lot like the humans.
They can live for more than 50 years. Another thing that is similar
between the chimpanzees and humans is how we communicate. Wild
chimpanzees live in communities, which contain 50- 120 individuals. At
the rate the chimps are decreasing they will be extinct sometime in the
next 40-50 years, unless we stop them!
By Colin McGrath, Sean Barbour and Colton Salinger
Rhinoceros are unique and amazing animals, that’s
why it is sad to see them endangered. The rhinoceros are endangered
species due to the fact that people hunt them for their horns. Another
reason they stay endangered is because it takes the female rhino up to
16 months to reproduce. Rhinos are ponderous, hoofed animals and their
average height is 11 to 14 feet and they can weight up to 4 tons. Rhinos
eat grass and they can run up to 28 miles per hour. Hopefully the people
can help the rhinos gain bigger numbers.
Oil
Spills
By Lindsey Bodine
and Stephanie Bennett
Oil spills are very common in our
world. There are accidents, leaks, and other causes. The pollution of
oil into water mainly the ocean happens very frequently but is extremely
difficult to clean up. Oil is a greasy substance that does not dissolve
in water making it one of the worst sources of pollution to clean. Oil
is lighter than water, which causes it to “float” instead of mix. When
oil is exposed to air it thickens and even spreads.
Spilt oil is a serious threat to
all ocean life; both freshwater and marine life. Oil also hurts birds by
coating their feathers in the toxic substance. Many advanced machines
are being tested in an attempt to control the spills. The second most
difficult reason that oil is so hard to clean is that when it is
introduced to the water is changes in its physical and chemical
properties. And since marine mammals are usually very sensitive, they
can die very quickly.
Recovery from oil damage can take years but
scientists and organizations
are working together to figure out the
best treatments and ways to clean, control, and prevent these toxic
chemicals from ruining natural habitat.
By Jason Feldman and Nick
Bardenheier
Global warming is a major problem to us
and to our environment.
If we do not do something about it in the next twenty to forty
years, islands will be under water, many peninsulas will be gone and
families and homes will be destroyed along many of our coasts.
Not only will it affect us, but also many animals use the
temperature and seasons to migrate. The major region that Global Warming
will effect is the polar region, such as Alaska, the Arctic and
Antarctica.
Beach Closures
By Scott Dimond, Garrett Delaney and Nick Anderson
When do you know when a beach is
unsafe to swim in?
How do you know what kind of water is harmful and water kind is
not? Well, in the past few
years there have been 11,270 beach closures all over the country by city
officials. Most of the
closures have been in where the beaches are most populated such as
California and Florida.
Scientist now say that over two-fifths of the country’s water is not fit
to swim in. This increase
of beach closures is due to the fact that the public and water services
are not being responsible for the quality of the water.
Elevated bacteria counts is what is causing this.
Many doctors don’t take the risk themselves to swim in the water.
Run-off into the ocean decreases the D.O. because bacteria require
a low B.O.D. (Biochemical Oxygen demand) this makes a perfect breeding
ground for the bacteria. In
some cases, scientist have found large amounts of Hepatitis C in water
along the coastline of California.
Due to many outdated sewage handling techniques, there have been
numerous sewage leaks that drain into the ocean. Beach pollution is most common during heavy rains because of
the drainage that leads to the ocean.
Stormwater drains carry trash, silt, cigarette butts, leaves, and
oil. Some other causes of
beach pollution are people at the beach who litter, sewage bypass,
people in boats, and sewer overflows.
Some diseases that you can contract are salmonellosis, cholera, viruses,
gastroenteritis, protozoa and worms.
Some signs to look for when you are swimming are, street litter
(cups, papers, plastic material), discolored water, strong smelling
drains or fast flowing run-off.
ACID RAIN
By Lauren Colvin,
Stanton Kane Morales and
Alana Kerr
The burning of
fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas causes acid rain. The
two main elements released by the burning of these fossil fuels are
sulfur and nitrogen. Sulfur combines with the oxygen in the air to form
sulfur dioxide. When the sulfur dioxide mixes with water vapor in the
air, it becomes sulfuric acid. When nitrogen mixes with the oxygen in
the air at high temperatures, it forms one of the oxides of nitrogen.
When a nitrogen oxide is exposed to water vapor, it becomes nitric acid.
|