The Leading Causes Of Animal Extinction

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction:

Every organism and species has the right to live in a harmonious and safe world, hence nobody has authority to take away others’ lives. Unfortunately, almost thousands or millions of animals are being killed and facing extinction nowadays.

According to the Centre for Biological Diversity (n.d), 65 million years ago, the extinction of dinosaurs is due to natural phenomenon, but nowadays, scientists found that approximate 30-50% of animals are going to extinct soon and 99% is due to human activities.

On the other hand, can you imagine that if your grandson or your next generation are asking you how do an elephant look like? And you are not able show them in the zoo as they are already extinct.

Hence, you are only able to show them by pictures and not the real elephants.

Thus, the causes of animal extinction are habitat destruction, illegal hunting from human to the animal and introduction of exotic species.

Body:

First of all, animal extinction is due to habitat loss.

There are two types of habitat for different categories of animals, which are forest, the habitat for the terrestrial animals and sea, the habitat for the marine organisms.

Therefore, habitat is important for the animal as long as it provides a shelter, food and water for them and it may play an important role to complete a life cycle (Evans, 2011).

Unfortunately, a lot of animals are facing habitat loss and it is caused by the human activity.

Thus, selfishness and desire of human is the main cause of animal losing the habitat and it may make them loss the ability to survive as a result of lack of food and water.

According to the Evans (2011), the agriculture, housing, road, industrial development and so on are the human activities that caused habitat lost of animals and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Resources (IUCN) estimated that 85% of animal extinction is caused by human activity.

For example, industrial development will cause the animal to lose its habitat because human has cut down all the trees to build the factory. As a result, reduction of trees destroys the habitat of the animals.

Another reason of habitat destruction is natural causes.

Natural phenomenon such as climate change, rise of sea level, fire, flood and so on will lead to habitat loss.

According to Gibbons (2004), who is a senior majoring Human Biology, temperature of local environment become less stable due to the retreat of the Wisconsin ice sheet while late Pleistocene, hence some habitats was eliminated, shrank and disappeared.

As a result, animal extinction is caused by the habitat loss.

In addition, illegal hunting by human will also lead to extinction of animals.

Illegal hunting is difficult to be monitored by the government because government does not have enough money to hire police to patrol the wide forest and the smart way of the criminal to transport the protected animals to other places or countries.

Therefore, illegal hunting is still happening nowadays and it may cause extinction to certain animals.

Bove (n.d) believes that animal caught by the illegal hunter will secretly smuggle the animal or body parts of the animal across the national border and sold the product via "black market" network.

Furthermore, some animals which are protected by the government have the value of making some products such as fashion products, in medicine field and so on.

Thus, hunting protected animals can make more money as buyers may pay more money to get the animals.

Poaching and trading the elephant’s tusks in poor villager, Africa is the faster and easily way to earn money (Shukman, 2013).

Besides, according to Nolts (2011), a Professor in Philosophy Department in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1990s, Carolina parakeet is facing extinction during that time because of illegal hunting. The feathers of the Carolina parakeet are good materials for hat making.

As a result, illegal hunting will cause animal extinction.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, extinction of animals is caused by the habitat destruction, illegal hunting and introduce of exotic species.

Since many cases of extinction of the animals occurred in the past, therefore, we as human should learn from the past and work hand in hand to avoid extinction of the animals. Besides, government should enforce the rules or laws to punish the criminals that kill or hunt for protected animals.

As quoted by Derrick Jensen, "No matter what we call it, poison is still poison, death is still death, and industrial civilization is still causing the greatest mass extinction in the history of the planet." Thus, it means that the main reason of the animal extinction is due to human being themselves.

Essay Form

Every organism and species has the right to live in a harmonious and safe world, hence nobody has authority to take away others’ lives. Unfortunately, almost thousands or millions of animals are being killed and facing extinction nowadays. According to the Centre for Biological Diversity (n.d), 65 million years ago, the extinction of dinosaurs is due to natural phenomenon, but nowadays, scientists found that approximate 30-50% of animals are going to extinct soon and 99% is due to human activities. On the other hand, can you imagine that if your grandson or your next generation are asking you how do an elephant look like? And you are not able show them in the zoo as they are already extinct.

Hence, you are only able to show them by pictures and not the real elephants. Thus, the causes of animal extinction are habitat destruction, illegal hunting from human to the animal and introduction of exotic species.

First of all, animal extinction is due to habitat loss. There are two types of habitat for different categories of animals, which are forest, the habitat for the terrestrial animals and sea, the habitat for the marine organisms. Therefore, habitat is important for the animal as long as it provides a shelter, food and water for them and it may play an important role to complete a life cycle (Evans, 2011). Unfortunately, a lot of animals are facing habitat loss and it is caused by the human activity. Thus, selfishness and desire of human is the main cause of animal losing the habitat and it may make them loss the ability to survive as a result of lack of food and water. According to the Evans (2011), the agriculture, housing, road, industrial development and so on are the human activities that caused habitat lost of animals and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Resources (IUCN) estimated that 85% of animal extinction is caused by human activity. For example, industrial development will cause the animal to lose its habitat because human has cut down all the trees to build the factory. As a result, reduction of trees destroys the habitat of the animals. Another reason of habitat destruction is natural causes. Natural phenomenon such as climate change, rise of sea level, fire, flood and so on will lead to habitat loss. According to Gibbons (2004), who is a senior majoring Human Biology, temperature of local environment become less stable due to the retreat of the Wisconsin ice sheet while late Pleistocene, hence some habitats was eliminated, shrank and disappeared. As a result, animal extinction is caused by the habitat loss.

In addition, illegal hunting by human will also lead to extinction of animals. Illegal hunting is difficult to be monitored by the government because government does not have enough money to hire police to patrol the wide forest and the smart way of the criminal to transport the protected animals to other places or countries. Therefore, illegal hunting is still happening nowadays and it may cause extinction to certain animals. Bove (n.d) believes that animal caught by the illegal hunter will secretly smuggle the animal or body parts of the animal across the national border and sold the product via "black market" network. Furthermore, some animals which are protected by the government have the value of making some products such as fashion products, in medicine field and so on. Thus, hunting protected animals can make more money as buyers may pay more money to get the animals. Poaching and trading the elephant’s tusks in poor villager, Africa is the faster and easily way to earn money (Shukman, 2013). Besides, according to Nolts (2011), a Professor in Philosophy Department in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1990s, Carolina parakeet is facing extinction during that time because of illegal hunting. The feathers of the Carolina parakeet are good materials for hat making. As a result, illegal hunting will cause animal extinction.

In a nutshell, extinction of animals is caused by the habitat destruction, illegal hunting and introduce of exotic species. Since many cases of extinction of the animals occurred in the past, therefore, we as human should learn from the past and work hand in hand to avoid extinction of the animals. Besides, government should enforce the rules or laws to punish the criminals that kill or hunt for protected animals. As quoted by Derrick Jensen, "No matter what we call it, poison is still poison, death is still death, and industrial civilization is still causing the greatest mass extinction in the history of the planet." Thus, it means that the main reason of the animal extinction is due to human being themselves.