cassidycarlykatie

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BY: Cassidy, Carly and Katie :]

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Welcome to our wiki! Our wiki is an educational website with lots of information about five different types of eco-disasters and animals that are affected by them. Many people don't realize how dire circumstances are for these animals. They are in danger every moment of every day. This site's purpose is to educate people about how each adversity affects one specific animal. We hope that this website educates you and encourages you to help these helpless creatures.

Our wiki has many topics. It might be about pelican and oil spills. It might be about polar bear and global warming. It is about five different types of animals that are affected by five different types of disasters. many of these disasters are man-made. These animals stand no chance alone. they need us to help them. We hope that you learn alot from this site, and your outlook on eco-disasters is changed forever!

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Everyone has heard about it, it is one of the worlds most potentially disastrous threat... Global warming is not a relatively new topic. About 56,000,00 years ago the temperature rose about 5 degrees Celsius! This happened because of a massive injection of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. That amount of gas is only 10% of the gases we put into the atmosphere. Because of this, the flora and fauna on Earth can't handle the rapid changes in temperature and many species are on the brink of extinction. One species that needs our help are polar bears. Experts predict that by the year 2050, the Arctic may be ice free in the summer, which means big trouble for polar bears. Imagine swimming nonstop for two months straight. It would be sink or swim for polar bears, literally. Due to the temperature changes and other ecological changes, polar bear numbers are between 20,000 or 25,000.

Some polar bears have experienced this dilemma first hand and have not been so lucky. One radio collared polar bear, pregnant and alone, swam 427 miles in open water to reach land. Unfortunately, the cub didn't make it. However, if we all pull together, we have a chance at saving these beautiful creatures from extinction.

Poaching is a completely preventable threat to the most amazing animals. Elephants being one of those animals. Tens of thousands of elephants are killed each year in Africa alone due to the worlds demand for ivory. Poaching has cut African elephants number in half in one decade! To try to prevent any more elephants from dying, there has bee a recent ban on trading elephant ivory. However, a ban would have NEVER have been needed 500 years ago. There were 10,000,00 elephants and 16,000,000 people in Africa. Elephants took up 38% of Africa's total population. Now, over hunting in the 19th century started the elephants numbers to decline. Most people think that poachers are some group of scary men to to deplete Africa of elephants, but it is quite the opposite. An average man in Africa, if he is lucky enough to have a job, makes $20 a month and he can earn $6 for a pound of ivory(or $120 per elephant). And the decrease of the elephant population isn't just hurting them ,it's hurting other animals too. The elephants eat certain fruits with seed and on their travels, they deposit the seed somewhere else causing that fruit to grow again. Now those foods that other animals need, are becoming more and more scarce which is bad for every one.

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Oil spills are a major problem in todays world. These spills are devastating for animals and there habitats. An oil spill is what happens when companies unsafely drill through miles of rock water and salt to get to supplies of crude oil. Too much oil and underwater pressure surges up and causes the oil well to explode in a ball of fire. Contrary to popular belief, oil doesn't allways float in water. Some oil floats to the top, but most oil forms plumes under the water. Oil covers underwater plants and animals,crippling them and their ecosystem. Pelicans are one animal that is affected by oil spills. They choke on the oil, or are covered in oil and sometimes die. Rescuers help pelicans by catching them in nets, and giving them multiple baths. Rescures then release them into the ocean miles away from the oil spill. Pelicans are affected by oil spills in one of the worst ways possible. They have to live in an ocean of crude oil. So next time you are sitting at the gas station, think about where that oil came from, and what animal it affected.

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Cheetahs are now endangered thanks to a number of reasons. One reason being genetic problems leading to severe inbreeding. Another problenm being the loss of their habitat to human growth. But, the reason we are talking about now is food reduction. With the loss of habitat, there are many less animals, therefore, causing less food for the cheetahs and it is already hard enough for cheetahs to catch their food. Cheetahs have a very agile bodly type. Their long and lanky bodies are only designed to run for a short period of time, but they can run very fast in that time. This means they need a lot of rest! If a cheetah manages to catch their prey in the short amount of fast running time they can handle, they have to clench it in their jaw for about 20 minutes while their body cools down before they can eat it. In this time, there are also many other animals looking for food such as leopards or lions. In the end, the cheetahs have to manage to catch their prey, gaurd it for about 20 minutes and then quickly eat it before some other animal gets to it. Plus, cheetahs usually only eat a variety of around 5 species of animals; antelope, birds, rabbits, porcupines and ostriches. Cheetahs are just one of the many types animals being affected by food reduction, you can help support the cheetachs at []

Who wouldn't want to save this?!

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Habitat loss is a large portion of why the animals across the world are starting to disappear. It is assumed to be the main factor in our reduction of amphibians. Habitat loss is the signified conservation problem of the 21st century. The building of roads, the need for paper, agriculture and global warming can all be causes of habitat reduction. Habitat loss may be the biggest threat to North American amphibians. In rural Canada though, traffic is the biggest threat. The noise of the cars going by affects amphibian's hearing, therefore, they cannot always hear an approaching threat. Although, some species, such as the leopard frog, do cope fairly well with this problem. Another problem with the traffic is that the cars can cause direct road kill to these poor creatures. The bog turtles population in the marsh is decreasing due to the human capturing of these turtles and habitat loss by about 50% in about two decades. This species is now threatened. Amphibians are an important part of the food chain. They are cold blooded vertabrates and their class, amphibia, includes frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecians. This is the only class between fish and reptiles. When amphibians are first born, some lay eggs in more moist places, whereas others lay eggs on dry land. The eggs that are layer in water usually morph into a tadpole, and eventually into adults on land. The eggs that are laid on land usually hatch, then the animals become small adults and eventually into large adults. Habitat reduction is a very large problem in today's society, and conservation groups such as the NWF are doing their best to stop it. Help stop habitat loss today!



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Citation: Kump, Lee R., Scientific American, Vol. 305 Issue 1, pg 56-61 Cohn, Jeffery P., Bioscience, Vol. 40 Issue 1, pg 10-14 McGrath, Susan, National Geographic, Vol. 220 Issue 1, pg 63

//What the Spill Will Kill,// Begley, Sharon, //Newsweek//

Mammals: Cheetah, (no author found), San Diego Zoo- Animal Bytes

//DRILLING DEEP//. Margolis, Mac //. Discover //

**CHEETAHS**: BUILT FOR SPEED. Sunquist, Fiona, // National Geographic Kids //