In this two-part series, read on to learn some interesting facts about the 10 most endangered animals in the world and how we, as a race, should be more cognizant of the plight of these beautiful creatures.
10. Gorillas
Gorillas share close to 97% of their DNA with humans! They are capable of feeling emotions and even behave like us sometimes – did you know they can laugh? There are two species, the Eastern Gorilla and the Western Gorilla, and they both have two subspecies. Three out of four are Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The only one that isn’t is the Mountain Gorilla, a subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla.
9. Rhinos
Rhinoceros comes from two Greek words Rhino and Ceros, which when translated into English mean nose horn. Human beings are almost entirely responsible for this beautiful creature nearing extinction. Poaching for their distinctive horns is their biggest threat. Three of the five species of rhinoceros are among the most endangered species in the world: the black rhino, Javan rhino and the Sumatran rhino. The Javan rhino is the closest to extinction with only about 50 left, of which most are in the Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia.
8. Sea Turtles
Hawksbill Turtles and Kemps Ridley Turtles are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Hunting is one of the biggest threats to sea turtles, with poachers targeting their eggs, shells, meat and skin. They are also at risk from habitat loss and pollution as well as climate change. Sand temperature determines the sex of hatchlings with eggs developing as females in warmer temperatures. That means even small temperature changes could skew the sex ratio of populations.
7. Saola
The Saola is one of the rarest large mammals on Earth. It was first discovered in 1992 in the Annamite Range in Vietnam. The Saola is elusive and so rarely seen it’s known as the Asian unicorn.
6. North Atlantic Right Whale
They are gentle giants that stay close to coasts and spend a lot of time at the surface skim feeding on zooplankton, all of which makes them an easy target for hunting. They were almost wiped out by hunters for their blubber and are now one of the most endangered large whales. They are now protected, and hunting is illegal, but population recovery is slow. They are only about 400 left, out of which, only 100 are breeding females. Females don’t breed for the first ten years of their life and then will give birth to a single calf every six to ten years. Vessel traffic also creates noise that interferes with their ability to communicate. Whales use sound to find mates, locate food and avoid predators, as well as to navigate and talk to each other.
Stay tuned for the Top 5 World’s Most Endangered Animal Species in the second part of the blog series. Can you guess which animals will feature on the IUCN Critically Endangered List?
*All Images for this blog sourced from Google and WWF
MojoStreaming
Wildlife Photo Contest ends May 21, 2021, 11:00 P.M. Est
We are inviting you to submit YOUR photo of wildlife for
a chance to be featured in our promotional calendar The photo we choose for our cover also will receive a $500 cash prize https://www.mojostreaming.com/signup Deadline to submit your photo is May 21, 2021, 11:00 EST Free
to sign up & submit
To kick off our introduction to MojoStreaming, a
Wildlife Community for photographers and filmmakers. We are inviting you to
submit YOUR photo of wildlife for a chance to be featured in our promotional
calendar (a great opportunity to promote your work) The photo we choose for our
cover also will receive $500. It is free to enter and simple to do: Upload your
image by May 21st before 11:00 P.M. EST (National Endangered Species Day) Sign
up & Submit at https://lnkd.in/epesgnf
Once you sign up- all you do is click on the Upload button
and choose the Photo for the calendar album.
PS do not forget to check your spam
folder for an email confirmation.
There is more good news! If your photo is
featured in the calendar - we will send you a free calendar!
ALL entries will be featured on Mojostreaming- a great way to gain additional exposure. To learn
more about us: https://www.mojostreaming.com/static/about
All photos must be original work, taken by the entrants. No
third party may own or control any materials the photo contains, and the photo
must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual
rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.
You
grant to MojoStreaming a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, copy, modify (size), distribute and publish
your photo(s) on our MojoStreaming Website and our Social Media Sites. Your photo(s) may be used for marketing and
promotional purposes. You represent and warrant that you own or have all
necessary rights (including intellectual property rights) to your photo(s)
(including to grant the license above).
Entries
will be judged by the MojoStreaming shareholders. All decisions are final. The Company reserves
the right to disqualify any entry that is deemed inappropriate or does not conform
to stated contest rules.
By
entering the contest, entrants agree that photos submitted can be used by the MojoStreaming
are for marketing purposes and may be featured in our promotional 18-month
calendar.
Submissions
will not be accepted once the deadline lapses: (May 21, 2021, 11:00 p.m. EST)
The
winner will be contacted via the email address sometime between June 1 -4th
provided during entry. If no response is received after five business days, a new winner will be selected, and the previous winner will forfeit all rights to
the prize.
We
will also contact all entries that will be featured in the calendar via the email
address sometime between June-1-4th provided during entry. At this time, we will ask that you provide us
further information about you, and more information about your photography
business/hobby. We will want to feature
information about you and your work so our customers can learn more about the
work you do.
If
you have any questions, please contact Cami Ciotta at cami@mojostreaming.com
Hippopotamus is also commonly known as Water-Horse. Hippos are the third-largest land mammal after the elephant and the rhinoceros. Weighing in at 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb.), an adult male stands up to 1.5m (4.5 feet) at the shoulder, and, oddly enough, their closest living relatives are whales and dolphins. Hippos spend most of their days submerged in water to keep cool, as they have no sweat glands.
Though they have webbed feet, their huge bulk prevents them from floating and they cannot swim. Their size does not, however, prevent them from outrunning a human - hippos have been estimated to reach terrifying speeds of up to 30 or even 40km per hour on land.
An adult hippo can spend as long as six minutes underwater, and their raised eyes, ears and nostrils allow them to remain almost entirely submerged for long periods of time. After spending the day bathing, hippos venture out at dusk and spend the night grazing, travelling up to 8km (5 miles) and consuming up to 68kg (150lbs) of grass each night to maintain their enormous size.
When hippos sleep in the water during the day they generally prefer to sleep in areas of shallower water. They are not standing or floating when you see them sleeping but rather laying flat on their bellies. Despite being semiaquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom.
#AfricantripswithGodie
#visitUgandarwandatanzania #Mammalsofeastafrica
The Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill is distributed to evergreen forests and savanna across equatorial Africa, in central and western Africa.
Females have a smaller casque and a black bill. The purpose of the casque is unknown for males, although suggested to be for sexual characterization.
The black-and-white-casqued hornbill has very mobile eyes which is not a common trait in birds.
This means that its eyes themselves can move in their socket, while other birds tend to have to move their heads to see.
It is capable of displaying emotions through the feathers at the top of the head, which allows it to communicate its emotional state.
Black-and-white-casqued hornbills are quite vocal, with a large repertoire of calls, one of which can be heard from a distance of 2km.
A monogamous species. Pairs commonly nest in naturally formed cavities 9 to 30 m high in large (>3 m circumference) rainforest trees.
Due to the rarity of these nesting cavities, there is a high degree of intraspecific competition for nesting sites. In order to protect their nest, pairs seal the cavity with mud pellets collected by the male. Inside, the female lays a clutch of 2 eggs, which are white in color with pitted shells. The eggs are incubated for 42 days while the male delivers food to the female hourly through a small slit, regurgitating numerous fruits, mammals, and insects. The male can bring up to 200 fruits per visit.
Usually, only one offspring is reared, with the chick from the second-laid egg dying of starvation. Newly hatched chicks have pink skin and open their eyes at 20 days of age. The offspring fledge in 70 to 79 days and can feed themselves by 40 to 72 days after fledging.
The diet consists mainly of figs, fruits, insects, and small animals found in the trees. Black-and-white-casqued hornbills are mainly frugivorous, with fruit comprising 90% of their diet, 56% belonging to Ficus species. They forage by hopping from branch to branch in the rainforest canopy and reaching for fruit with the tip of the bill, which they then swallow whole. This species is known to consume over 41 plant genera. The black-and-white-casqued hornbill does not consume water directly and seems to instead hydrate itself from the water contained in the fruits that represent most of its diet.
Black-and-white-casqued hornbills mediate seed dispersal of rainforest trees, by defecating or regurgitating seeds.
Carnivores, apes, monkeys, snakes, raptors, and humans all prey on these hornbills.
#Birdsofeastafrica
#visituganadarwandatanzania
“Have You Goat What It Takes?” Ask 14 Farmed Animal Sanctuaries
Competing in the 2022 Goat Games
Happening August 12-15, The Third Annual Goat Games Inspires Friendly Competition Among 14 Farmed Animal Sanctuaries Nationwide and Their Animal Champions
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. July 27, 2022 – Here we “goat” again! Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS), one of the world’s leading sanctuaries for farmed animals, is pleased to announce that it will host the third annual Goat Games. From August 12-15, CAS will be joined by 13 additional farmed animal sanctuaries located throughout the U.S. that will rally the support of animal lovers nationwide in support of their life-saving work. To register or make a donation, visit thegoatgames.org.
While the goats don’t actually compete, human athletes can sign up for an activity of their choosing – “whatever floats your goat!” – to raise awareness and funds for the sanctuary team of their choice. Participants can join this nationwide, virtual event from anywhere in the U.S.
“Covid did a number on us, as it did on nonprofits around the world,” said Kathy Stevens, Founder of Catskill Animal Sanctuary. “Funding plummeted, while the urgent needs of hundreds of animals remained the same. So in 2020, we created The Goat Games as a way for animal lovers to support the work of farm sanctuaries and the thousands of animals who call these special places home. We’re thrilled to host The Goat Games again to raise funds for farmed animals everywhere— and that need is more urgent than it’s ever been.”
Stevens explained that not only are sanctuaries “just digging out, in year three” of the pandemic, but they’re doing it at a time when the cost of everyday supplies is through the roof. “Grain cost is up. Hay cost is up. Medical supply costs are up. The cost of building materials is so high that a contractor suggested we not build anything.”
The Goat Games is a virtual event that challenges human participants to run, walk, bike, hike, or complete any activity of their choosing to raise money for a participating sanctuary. Each sanctuary has selected a farm animal as their team captain, and “athletes” will rally behind the farmed animal representing the sanctuary they want to support.
“We want to inspire animal lovers around the country to participate,” said Stevens. “Do whatever it is that you love – whether it’s running, reading, volunteering or binge-watching Netflix! Once folks pick their activity, they simply invite friends and family to support them as they raise funds for their favorite sanctuary.”
In its first year, Catskill Animal Sanctuary raised over $42,000. In 2021, CAS expanded The Games, inviting nine other farmed animal sanctuaries across the country to join, as a way to build camaraderie and increase national awareness of their life-saving work. The consortium raised over $217,000 to help rescued farmed animals. This year, they hope to increase that figure to $260,000.
The participating sanctuaries in the 2022 Goat Games include:
· Catskill Animal Sanctuary - the hosting Sanctuary (Saugerties, NY)
· Alaqua Animal Refuge (Freeport, FL)
· Farm Sanctuary (Watkins Glen, NY & Acton, CA)
· Farmaste Animal Sanctuary (Lindstrom, MN)
· Heartwood Haven (Wauna, WA)
· Indraloka Animal Sanctuary (Mehoopany, PA)
· Iowa Farm Sanctuary (Oxford, IA)
· Kindred Spirits Sanctuary (Citra, FL)
· Little Bear Sanctuary (Punta Gorda, FL)
· Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge (Pittsboro, NC)
· River’s Wish Animal Sanctuary (Spokane, WA),
· Safe Haven Rabbit Rescue (Clinton, NJ)
· Wildwood Farm Sanctuary (Newberg, OR)
· Yesahcan Sanctuary, Inc. (Arcadia, FL
Funds raised through donations and sponsorships will support the life-saving mission of each participating sanctuary. For more information on The Goat Games 2022 including registering and/or making a donation, visit thegoatgames.org.
About Catskill Animal Sanctuary
Founded in 2001, Catskill Animal Sanctuary is a non-profit, 150-acre refuge in New York's Hudson Valley. It is home to eleven species of rescued farmed animals with between 275 and 400 residents at any given time. In addition to direct animal aid, the Sanctuary offers on-site tours, a weekly podcast, an award-winning vegan cooking program, and educational programs that advocate veganism as the very best way to end animal suffering, improve human health, and heal an ailing planet.
Catskill Animal Sanctuary is the only U.S. farmed animal sanctuary with highest honors and accreditations from:
Charity Navigator (4 Stars), GuideStar (Platinum Rating), Better Business Bureau, and GFAS: Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries
For more information, call (845) 336-8447 or go to www.casanctuary.org.
-End-
Media Contact Information:
Lauren Witt, Account Supervisor
(817) 721-5576
catskillanimalsanctuary@Interdependence.com
