The Amazon Rainforests produce about 20% of the entire world’s oxygen. Even though most of us will never use it, it’s still interesting to learn. The amazon rainforest also receives about 9 feet of rain every year. Fifty percent of this returns to the atmosphere through foliage of trees.[1] There are over 40,000 different plant species and approximately 2.5 million insect species in the amazon rain forest. [2]With 10 million different species of plants, animals and insects it’s hard to imagine that the rainforest is endangered. Not just the animals but the entire rainforest. That means that if we keep up with the deforesting, then in 40 years we will lose our rainforests. The sadder thing about that fact is that we the amazon produces around 3,000 different kinds of fruit, and we use 10% of them for our produce. What will we do when we’ve consumed everything the rainforest has to offer? Around 80% of the food we eat originally came from rainforests. Some of the more popular examples include coffee, chocolate, rice, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, black pepper, pineapples and corn.[3] As you continue on your research on the rainforests, you’ll start to notice that the animals are becoming extinct daily. About 35 species, daily. The diversity of animal types in the Amazon is far reaching. From big to small, cute to strange looking, quiet to noisy, and dangerous to non-threatening all types of animals can be found.[4]
With the rainforest being endangered we have to look at the deforestation. This poses the biggest threat to the rainforest. On the plus side, the rates have slowed in recent years, but not stopped. At the current rate of deforestation, more than half of the 1.4 billion acres of rain forest could be gone by 2030. That’s home to millions of species, the Amazon is on of Earth’s last refuges for jaguars, harpy eagles and pink dolphins. [5]
One of the most, I think, coolest animals to live in the Amazon is the Amazon river dolphin, also known as the pink river dolphin is a freshwater dolphin. This dolphin can weigh up to 352 pounds and grow as long as 9.2 feet. The effect of human gold mining has caused the dolphin to go endangered. They mainly eat catfish, which are bottom feeders greatly affected by metals like mercury in the water.[6] The humans are also catching the catfish for trade in the city. These catfish go for high dollar, and with the catfish being the dolphins primary source of food, it’s easy to see why they’re endangered.
Amazon Catfish ---------------->
Part
2 Yellowstone National Park
In the early 1800s during the western expansion, the settlers brought their livestock with them. What they didn’t realize is that the native predator and prey species. Due to agriculture, the wolves’ lost their primary prey. As the prey was removed the wolves’ found stock to be an easier meal choice. Which in turn forced humans to kill the wolves to protect their livestock. Through the early 1900s, predator control, took place. Mountain Lions, Bears, Coyotes, and Wolves were all killed to protect their livestock. In the late 1800s when Yellowstone became a national park, the gray wolf was present. Even then, the early park managers participated in killing off these beautiful creatures. Regardless of the Secretary of the Interior stating “shall provide against the wanton destruction of the fish and game found within the said Park.” This of course all happened before biologists, and the understanding of ecosystems. 1914-1926 at least 136 wolves were killed inside the park. By the mid 1900s, wolf packs were rarely seen. Eventually most were completely eliminated from the 48 states. In 1970 there weren’t any proof that a wolf population existed in Yellowstone, even with the occasional wolf wandering. In 1974 the gray wolf landed on the endangered species list and recovery was mandated. The process began a year later. Between 1995 and 2003 the wolves didn’t prey on livestock outside of Yellowstone as much as anticipated. [1]
With
that said, we exterminated almost the entire population of wolves from the 48
states and entirely from the Rocky Mountain West, including the part that would
become Yellowstone National Park. We thought it was a great idea. Wolves were
scary and they would eat our livestock. But then environmental conservation
took hold and started to realize that without the wolves killing their natural
prey, elk, the willow trees began to shrink until there wasn’t anymore. This
affected the habitat of many other animals and plants in negative ways. Thus
the ecosystem became unbalanced. The food web became top-down trophic. Once the
wolves were restored, the balance was also restored, or so we thought. At
Yellowstone, despite the re-introduction of wolves, the willows are not
actually recovering as well as was hoped. One reason, Marris found, may be that
wolves don’t actually scare elk away from their preferred feeding areas, as
earlier research suggested they might. “When elk are really hungry, they’re
going to take their chances with the wolves,” Marris says.[2]
Based
on the above research, it’s easy to see that we will never truly know what
would have happened if we just left the wolves alone. We could have built so
the wolves didn’t interfere, but these ideas weren’t thought of back then. It
was, if someone or something entered your land you make sure they don’t enter
EVER again. Kill or be killed was the mentality of the early to mid 1900s. If
humans just allowed the ecosystem to manage itself, all probably would’ve been
okay, without messing with the habitual balance or lack thereof.
