Illegal logging is having serious impacts – not just on the forests themselves – but on the animals. It’s reasonable to assume that if the birds are being this powerfully impacted, it’s impacting other groups, such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and arthropods.
Habitat fragmentation and loss have played their part, but the main threat the giraffes currently face is poaching.
The report states that wildlife populations today are 52% less than they were in 1970. In other words, in less than two generations, these populations have declined by more than half.
The Sahara Desert is a spectacular place. Sahara is Arabic for “The Great Desert” and it truly is. It is the third largest after Antarctica and the Arctic and is the world’s hottest. At 9.4 million square kilometres (3.6 million square miles) it makes up 10% of the African continent.
The native small mammals vanished extremely quickly. In fragments less than 10 hectares, they disappeared almost entirely within 5 years. By 25 years only a handful were left, on average less than one individual per island
Core samples have shown us that the last ice age caused the North Atlantic Drift to slow down, but it is thought that its path changed between then and now. However, the study of past climate shows that the Gulf Stream has stopped completely several times in the past, causing rapid climate change.
Today, the total population of Florida panthers is estimated to be between 100 and 160 animals. Sadly, this increase in numbers has resulted in more panthers becoming involved in vehicle collisions on Florida’s roads.
The surveys themselves were prompted by observations of trapped wildlife (mainly amphibians such as frogs and toads) made while drain maintenance was being carried out.
Since the beginning of the 20th Century, the world population of tigers has fallen by 97%, from 100,000 individuals to current estimates of just 3,000.
The jaguar’s current range stretches from the Sonoran Desert in Mexico to northern Argentina, but the jaguar does cross into the USA frequently.