Conservation success stories
Christian Ryan Correspondent | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 years, 6 months AGO
Every day, it seems like yet another animal has been added to the Endangered Species List or sentenced to extinction.
Declines in the populations of giraffes and lions in Africa are causing scientists to wonder if we should now consider them endangered. With only two northern white rhinos (a mother and her daughter) left in existence, this subspecies will vanish in the very near future. The Bramble Cay melomys (a type of rodent) was declared extinct last February as the result of a rise in sea level that flooded much of its tiny island home.
With all these news stories about the animals we lose day after day, some may question whether or not our (sometimes expensive) conservation methods are really working. Are we saving any animals from extinction?
Thankfully, it’s not all gloom and doom in the world of animal conservation. Not only do conservation methods work, but many animals have already been saved from the edge of extinction due to the hard work of animal enthusiasts and scientists everywhere.
Join me this summer as we learn about eight species, all native to Idaho, that we’ve spared from the Endangered Species List and are thriving in their natural habitat once again. First up next Tuesday is the elegant and graceful trumpeter swan.
ARTICLES BY CHRISTIAN RYAN CORRESPONDENT
Critters of North Idaho: American Coot
If you see this bird swimming across the water’s surface from a distance, chances are you will mistake it for a duck.
Critters of North Idaho: Northern pike
When we talk about human disturbance of the environment, we usually think of the overharvesting of trees, overhunting and littering. But we can also disrupt the natural balance by introducing species of animals and plants into non-native habitats. This is what happened in the case of the northern pike.
Critters of North Idaho: Ye ol' vole
If you see a little rodent scurrying about in the thicket or under the snow, you may think it’s a mouse. And it may be a mouse, but at first glance it is very difficult to tell a mouse apart from another little rodent, the vole. So difficult, in fact, that voles are often mistakenly referred to as “field mice.” What makes these little scurriers so different from each other? For starters, they belong to different families.