Endangered and Extinct African Animals
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Before you read about the animals...
These are seven African animals on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List marked endangered, critically endangered, or at worst, extinct. Below, I will give a picture or my own drawing of each animal, text about the animal, and whether they are endangered, criticly endangered, or extinct. I am working on putting in YouTube videos for each animal. Also, I will give scientific and common names.
Diceros Bicornis
Black Rhinoceros, also known as Hook-lipped Rhinoceros
Critically endangered.There are four African subspecies of Black Rhino; The South-Central, South-Western, East African, and West African Black Rhinoceros. The West African subspecies went extinct in 2008. They weigh from 1,800 lbs.- 3,000 lbs., and have 2, or sometimes 3 horns. They eat grass, branches, and fruits.
The main reason they are dying is because they are hunted for their horns, even though this has been made illegal. The horns are used in traditional Chinese medicine and made into daggers by the native Africans. There are only about 4,000 Black Rhinos left in the wild.
UPDATE: I regret to inform you all that the Black Rhinoceros has been declared extinct. There are no known species left in the wild. It is presumed that poachers killed the last of them sometime over the past years.
Habitat of Black Rhino
Nectophrynoides Asperginis
Kihansi Spray Toad
Extinct in the WildThese are small toads that lived only in the Kihansi Gorge area. They are 10-18 millimeters long. Their only defense mechanism is to urinate when in danger. In the wild, they would eat mosses and small animals in their area. They are called Spray Toads because they stayed hydrated from the spray of the falls in the gorge. This species are not born a tadpole, but instead miniature toadletes.
They became endangered when the Lower Kihansi Dam was built. The dam cut off 90% of the water flow to the Kihansi River. The Tanzanian government saw danger, and saved 499 spray toads by removing them. The builders of the dam put in sprinklers to imitate the spray from the falls, but it was no use. The sprinklers broke, and were not repaired in time. As of 2007, there were only 460 Kihansi Spray Toads, all in captivity. The Toledo Zoo and New York Bronx Zoo are the only zoos trying to breed them. It is currently impossible to reintroduce them to the wild because there are not enough left, and some have recently died of a parasite, and their natural environtment has been completely destroyed by the new dam.
Ex-Habitat of Kihansi Spray Toad
Lycaon Pictus
African Wild Dog, also known as Cape Hunting Dog, Painted Hunting Dog or Wild Dog
Endangered.
The African Wild Dog lives in plains and grasslands all across Africa, as well as somrtimes the desert when their habitat has been destroyed. It hunts down medium-sized antelope. Wild dogs are incredibly strong - they weigh only 20-30 kg, and are able to hunt down prey from 50-200 kg. They will hunt wildebeests and water buffalo for fun, but do not kill these. They have even been seen hunting down warthogs.
They are endangered because of diseases from domesticated dogs and human ineraction. Even in reserves set up for them, lions hunt down and kill Wild Dogs, and hyennas take some of the wild dogs' prey. There are no commercial uses for the African Wild Dogs.
Habitat of African Wild Dogs
Pelusios Seychellensis
Seychelles Black Terrapin, also known as Seychelles Mud Turtle or Seychelles Terrapin
Believed to be Extinct.Very little is known about this animal. It lived in the Seychelles Archapellego off the coast of Africa near Madagascar. It was a terrapin, or freshwater turtle. Its diet and ecology are unknown.
It has only been officially documented three times. It is thought to have died out because of habitat loss, altough this is not for sure. It was announced extinct in 2008 by the IUCN.
Ex-Habitat of Black Terrapin
Phodilus Prigoginei
Congo Bay-owl, also known as African Bay Owl, Congo Bay Owl or Itombwe Owl
Endangered.
This species was thought to have gone extinct until 1996, when a woman accidentally discovered one of the owls. It lives in higher altitudes, from anywhere between about 1,800 to 2,500 meters. It hunts as a usual owl would, eating small rodents and other small prey. It has a very small known range of residency. It is a medium sized owl and is tan.
There are about 9,400 Congo Bay-owls left. They are threatened by habitat loss, seeing as they have very specific habitat needs. These needs include a mixture of grassland and bamboo or montane (cloud) forest. Their habitat is mainly being lost because of local farmers extending their land, and because of forest clearance for livestock grazing. The Itombwe Forest, where the owl was discovered, has become a preserve, although the extent of the boundries of the reserve is still argued over. Many other conservation plans have been proposed, but none have yet been implemented.
Habitat of Bay-owl
Rhabdalestes Leleupi
No Common English Name
Critically Endangered.
This fish lives in Uganda, specifically the Nyumba ya Munga lake (Lake Albert) and its outflowing rivers. This fish was first studied in 1967, and has not been seriously studied since, although it was classified as critically endangered in 2006. It is a freshwater fish that is approximately 8 centemeters long.
The main threat to the fish is over-fishing. Many times nets intended for other fish would bring in mainly Lelupi, which would be discarded. As of 2006, because of the declining population, only 0.6% of the catch is Lelupi. There are no current conservation efforts, nor is there any plan to begin a conservation program. If nothing is done, they may go extinct.
Habitat of Lelupi
Astrochelys Yniphora
Angonka, also known as Ploughshare Tortoise, Madagascar Angulated Tortoise, or Madagascar Tortoise
This toroise lives only in two small regions on the African island of Madagascar. It was most recently studied in 2008, as a follow up to many studies done in the late 80's - the mid 90's. They can grow from anywhere bvetween 361-486 mm. The tortoises live in the Baly Bay region, specicaly in the bamboo scrub area. These tortoises were observed eating grass and forbs, which is unusal, since almost no other tortoise eats grass. Unlike turtles, but like other toroises, the Angonkas live only on land, not in water.
The Angkonga population is rapidly dwindling, and there are only abvout 600 individuals left in the wild, although some esimates are as low as 200 adults in the wild. These animals are at great risk, from burning the habitat and the hunting, killing, and consumption of the tortoise. Also, the illegal pet trade out of Africa ha slimmed there numbers down even more. 25% of the popuation has died in the last 42 years. If this occurs again, there could be as few as 100 of these turtles, and only 50 adults in the wild.
There is more conservation effort for this animal than many others. The region iof Baly Bay is now a national park, making it illegal to smuggle or kill the tortoises and other animals in Baly Bay. The World Wildlife Foundation and the Durrel Wildlife Conservation Trust have set up a small breeding program and an awarness group to speak to native Africans. Still, more must be done, as the illegal pet trade should be watched and inforced by international law before these beauties are truely protected, so that they can have a brighter future than the Seychelles Black Terrapin mentioned earlier.
Habitat of Angonoka
Reader Feedback
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Donnette
Jul 17, 2011 @ 6:45 am | delete
- I have included this lens on http://www.squidoo.com/johannesburg-zoo
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mrsphillips200
Sep 22, 2011 @ 12:09 am | delete
- Thank you!
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Shirts-And-Travel May 31, 2011 @ 6:31 pm | delete
- Great lens about a topic that needs more attention. Thanks for creating it.
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mrsphillips200
Jun 4, 2011 @ 11:27 pm | delete
- Thank you! As I have said, I did not really intend for this lens to become famous. I am so glad to have this be getting attention (slowly but surely). This really is a VERY important topic.
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pheonix76
Apr 26, 2011 @ 11:25 pm | delete
- Thank you for creating this lens. Spreading the word about endangered animals is the best way to help them and get people involved. I am featuring your page on my extinct birds lens.
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mrsphillips200
May 3, 2011 @ 7:57 pm | delete
- That's great! Thank you for favoriting this and linking our pages. I acutally made this as a school project (that's why there are handdrawn pictures), but then I decided that the word needed to be spread, so I added and expanded, and eventually it became this. I'm trying to think of more animals to add. Can you think of any?
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Bibiliography
Pictures 1 and 7 are from the ARKive
Picture 2 is from http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2009/2009-11-03-01.asp
Picture 4 is from http://www.vanheygen.com/Silhouette/images/juv.terrapin.jpg
All maps and information is from IUCN and outlinking websites (note-Black terrapin map from lonleyplanet and Lelupi map is from svt.ntnu.no)
by mrsphillips200
Hello world. This is my bio. I can edit it later!
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