Do you know which are the 10 most threatened animals in the world? When the population of a species is so low that it is reduced to less than 250 adult specimens or its population is relegated to between 50-70% of individuals, it is considered an endangered species.
The United Nations Organization celebrates World Wildlife Day every March 3 to commemorate the signing of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that seeks to protect the world’s wild animals and plants.
Today we showcase some of the animals that are subject to life-threatening human-enabled practices such as illegal poaching, habitat destruction, and the effects of climate change , so their overall population has been drastically reduced, leading them to edge of extinction.
Thus, the alteration of natural evolutionary changes through habitat destruction, pollution, excessive hunting and fishing and, potentially more devastating, climate change will cause, according to experts, that the number of extinctions grows to an unprecedented rate as human populations expand and the earth warms.
The UN estimates that 75% of terrestrial environments and 66% of marine environments have already been altered by human activity, causing a 20% reduction in the abundance of terrestrial animals, as well as a potential reduction in the biomass of fish up to 25% by the end of the century.
Our planet, Earth, is home to more than 30 million animal species, and endangered species are found throughout the world.
There are currently 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List, and 16,306 of them are in danger of extinction, more than last year.
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