14 Endangered Animals And Where To Find Them

Humans have always been fascinated with animals – there are few we haven’t hunted, feared, bred, domesticated, drawn on cave walls or composed songs and poetry about. But nothing compares with the thrill you get when you see an animal for the first time. Just seeing the brute majestic rhino or the effete elegance of a tiger can be a life-changing experience.

Even Stephen Fry, famous international clever chap, couldn’t help but giggle like schoolgirl when he swam with a manatee for the first time. ‘Last Chance To See’ (BBC2, Tuesday evenings) sees Fry travel in search of endangered animals, and goes to show that we don’t just need animals to do practical stuff like regulate our ecosystems – when we’re communicating with an animal, we humans feel less alone too. Watching Fry, heart caught in his throat, shaking hands with a gorilla is a joyous thing in itself.

But many of the rare creatures we dream about one day meeting and forging life-long bonds with are being threatened by extinction. For some it is only so much time before the only place we’ll get to see them is in specimen jars in a zoological museum, bottled, labelled and vanished for good.

Climate change is a contributing factor, of course, but used intelligently and in moderation, our holidays can have immense benefits. Relatively few threatened species have been directly effected as a result of climate change, with poaching, overfishing, deforestation, overpopulation, disease, the effect of introduced species and civil war far more likely to precipitate collapse.

Lend your support when traveling by visiting some of the many national parks, zoos, nature reserves and conservation projects around the globe who rely on visitors not only for income, but also to spread knowledge and awareness of their cause.

Where the wild things are

So in homage to Mr Fry, we present 14 of the rarest animals to see (one for every chapter of The Jungle Book, certainly every animal-lovers first journey into the animal kingdom):

1. Seychelles Giant Tortoise CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct in the wild HOW MANY: 12 WHERE: Schönbrunn Zoo, Vienna, Austria

2. California Condor CONSERVATION STATUS: Critically endangered HOW MANY: 336 WHERE: San Diego Zoo, California, USA

3. Grizzly Bear CONSERVATION STATUS: Vulnerable HOW MANY: 1,500 (aprox.) WHERE: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

4. Whooping Crane CONSERVATION STATUS: Endangered HOW MANY: 538 WHERE: Calgary Zoo, Alberta, Canada

5. Cross River Gorilla CONSERVATION STATUS: Critically endangered HOW MANY: 280 WHERE: Cross River National Park, Nigeria

6. Chinese Alligator CONSERVATION STATUS: Critically endangered HOW MANY: 10,000 (aprox.) WHERE: Madras Crocodile Bank, India

7. Mexican Spotted Owl CONSERVATION STATUS: Endangered HOW MANY: 2,000 (aprox.) WHERE: Wildlife Centre, Espanola, New Mexico, USA

8. Black Rhino CONSERVATION STATUS: Critically endangered HOW MANY: 3,600 (aprox.) WHERE: Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania

9. Sumatran Tiger CONSERVATION STATUS: Critically endangered HOW MANY: 100-140 WHERE: Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia

10. Barbary Lion CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct in the wild HOW MANY: Less than 40 WHERE: Belfast Zoo, Northern Ireland

11. Giant Panda CONSERVATION STATUS: Endangered HOW MANY: 2,000-3,000 (aprox.) WHERE: Smithsonian National Geological Park, Washington, USA

12. Amazonian Manatee CONSERVATION STATUS: Vulnerable HOW MANY: Unknown (10,000 in 1977) WHERE: Yasuni National Park and Biosphere Reserve, Ecuador

13. Blue Whale CONSERVATION STATUS: Endangered HOW MANY: 5,000-12,000 WHERE: Reykjavik Harbour, Iceland

14. Komodo Dragon CONSERVATION STATUS: Vulnerable HOW MANY: 4,000-5,000 WHERE: Komodo Island, Indonesia

It is ill-advised to track animals in their wild, non-captive habitats, so please always consult a professional first.

There is also a good helping of useful information on offsetting air travel emissions already on the web and – where long flights are unavoidable – take care to travel by plane less often in the future.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 3:20 am and is filed under General snippets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.