The human being is a machine that is destroying more and more natural ecosystems and degrading the areas where the vast majority of the planet's fauna species live. Industrialization and growing urbanization have separated natural spaces into mere recreational and conservation spaces. While before we talked about expansion, now we talk about conservation. All the polluting and degrading activities of the human being have made animals appear in danger of extinction. An animal in danger of extinction is one whose populations are decreasing drastically over the years or its habitat is fragmented.
In this article, we will learn more about endangered animals and the problems involved.
Environmental problems
Endangered animals are the immediate consequence of human activities. Some of the main causes we will see later, but they are related to the destruction of habitats. Destroying the place where animals live and develop means that they cannot survive, not only because of their activities but also because the food chain is altered.
It is difficult to think about endangered animals without thinking about their adaptation. There is an infinity of animals capable of adapting to new scenarios and evolving to guarantee the success of the species. However, these adaptive processes are on a large temporal scale. In other words, it takes thousands of years for genetic mutations to come into action and achieve a new characteristic or behavior that helps them adapt to the environment.
And it is that our planet is not fixed or calm, but naturally also undergoes transformations. The essential difference between natural and human-induced changes is time. The speed at which the world is changing due to our human activities is too fast for animals to adapt and survive. As a result, more and more animals are becoming endangered.
Causes why animals are in danger of extinction
We are going to enumerate the causes and describe them in order to know what are the causes why thousands of animals are in danger. Beginning with natural causes, they are those that happen without human action. These causes have led to the extinction of animals on a large scale. These causes have to do with the appearance of diseases and pandemics, competition from other species and even aging itself.
There are many catastrophes that can occur naturally and destroy many species. For example, we have forest fires, droughts, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc. Although it is nature that initiates it, it ends up killing thousands of living beings.
Now we move on to the causes that have to do with human actions. Human beings are overexploiting natural resources, polluting ecosystems and displacing communities. Every human activity has repercussions on the environment. The immediate consequences are the affection to the way of life of the animals.
The integrity of ecosystems is altered, increasing the vulnerability of these animals to any environmental change. These changes and alterations cause the loss of many species because it is not possible for them to adapt to new environments in such a short time.
Consequences of endangered animals
Many of you will ask yourselves what does it matter that a species of insect is extinguished for the human being? It will neither benefit us nor harm us in any way, after all, it is only a "bug". Among the consequences that endangered animals have, we find a change in ecosystems as a whole. This means that there are imbalances between species and thus diminishing the quality of the food chain. All this repercussion ends up affecting the animals that live in different habitats.
The whole ecosystem is affected when a species becomes extinct. Not only because of food but also because of changes in resources. There are serious consequences among which we list:
- Loss of genetic diversity. This is an important aspect when accounting for the vulnerability of species. All the components of the habitat reduce their possibilities of hunting, genetic exchange, reproduction, etc.
- Complete extinction of species. Over time, the disappearance of species causes serious damage to the environment. Species that become extinct cause other species to take over the areas where the extinct species was involved. Among the impacts caused by the complete extinction of species are hunting, tree felling, and forest fires.
- Human evolution. Many human processes have consequences for endangered animals. We have always used knowledge to be able to use animals in our favor. As species disappear, our food vulnerability increases.
- Destruction of ecosystems. This will be detailed in the next section.
Destruction of ecosystems and natural resources
When we cause the extinction of flora and fauna we are breaking the ecological balance. Every living thing has a function in ecosystems. Or it helps to pollinate, to create humid spaces, to serve as food, to control populations, etc. If we eliminate species that serve as food for others, we will not only be making the species in question disappear but also the other species on which it fed.
At the same time, we can find that the species that fed on the one we have extinguished, pollinates another plant and this one cannot now increase its populations. In general, the alteration of the state of an ecosystem means that species do not have the same resources to survive and, in turn, can diminish the natural resources we are accustomed to using. For example, bees are very important to humans and their populations are being severely affected.
I hope this article will raise awareness about endangered animals and their global impact.