Left: Bear - Right Horned Owl Chick

Oh the poor animals. Man has managed to make many animals extinct and many more are on the verge of extension. I imagine if all the animals that became extinct were still around there would be no room for us. But it is a shame that this planet is becoming all steel and cement and the jungles are shrinking at an incredible rate. There is quite a list of endangered and rare animals, lets look at some of them.

The yellow tailed Wooly Monkey is one of those victims of the shrinking jungle. It usually lives in the montane cloud forests of Peru. It eats mostly fruit but will sometimes eat leaves and flowers The last time it was seen was 1974. Not only is this a rare animal, but it is one of the rarest of all animals.

The Hirola or Hunter's Antelope has been unlucky enough to habitate the border between Somalia and Kenya, an area where many people are starving. It was thought to have died out in Somalia but this was not true. Its numbers fell from 14,000 in the 1970s to approximately 300 in 1995. Somalia was in desperate straits and no doubt the animal was used for food.

The Vancouver Marmot is a rodent that likes to live above 3300 feet. It eats alpine plants along with herbs and non grass plants. Logging has been destroying the habitat of this animal and they are now figured to number less than 100. It seems that if nothing is done then it will be bye, bye Marmot.

Sometimes you have to wonder, how could something as big and tough as a Rhino get on the endangered list? Well the Sumatran Rhino made it thanks to over hunting and the shrinking forest. How could this beast know that its horn would be one of the reasons that it is being hunted to death. The horn is worth more than its weight in gold when ground up and put into different asian medicines.

Camels are highly prized animals but apparently the wild Bactrian Camel isn't. Its main food source is shrubs. This poor camel has been almost hunted out of existence. The size of the average herd is 2 to 15 animals. There are believed to be less than 1,000 of these animals in existence. This type of camel is of the two hump variety.

Left: Snake - Right: Birds in flight

Some Lemurs are also in a lot of trouble. The Golden Rump Lemur and Greater Bamboo Lemur are both down to about 1,000 animals each putting them on the rarest list. Both these species eat Bamboo sprouts and grasses. Both species are in trouble due to agriculture policies in Madagascar.

Visayan Spotted Deer are now found only on the four largest Visayan Islands in the Philippines. Their population is approximately only a few hundred. The deer population suffered from logging, bad agriculture practice and over hunting. This deer species may not have long to go.

We all know what the giant panda is. Its main diet consists of mostly bamboo and the panda is mostly nocturnal. Logging and farming are destroying the panda's habitat and the climate is changing, further affecting the animal. The last population estimate is about 1,000 animals.

There is an animal that resembles a porpoise called a Vaquita. It is also called a Gulf of California Porpoise among other things. This animal is among the world's rarest mammals. It declined in a relatively short period of time as it was abundant in the beginning of the 20th century. It is believed that modern fishing methods are responsible for its decline. Only 50 animals were found to obtain data from.

Did you know that there were antelopes in the desert? Well there is and it doesn't drink but derives its moisture from the dew on the grasses it eats. It is called the Addax and it lives, in of all places, the Sahara Desert. It moves by night and rests by day. The amount of animals has decreased drastically but the count is not known.

The Dwarf Blue Sheep lives at a high altitude on rocky slopes. It eats grass and plants. The average herd is now down to only 6 animals. They seem to be found only in a very small part of China. Hunters have accounted for much of their decline. There may be as few as 200 left.

The Malabar Civet is a strange looking creature. It is cat like but yet the body is more like a dog. It has a thick tail. It eats small animals and plants. It originally comes from the rain forest in India. Deforestation has reduced the numbers of Malabar Civets to almost extinction. It is believed that fewer than 250 exits.

There are so many other animals that are in jeopardy but the list would be too long. Instead of listing them all I have taken a representative amount to give you the idea of what I am talking about.

The loss of habitat is helping to kill off many species as is the over hunting in many areas. It seems man never learns. The schools of fish are succumbing to modern fishing techniques and over fishing may eventually wipe out the fishing industry along with the fish. So not only is man destroying a food supply but also employment. This is true in many areas. Even in places where preserves have been set up are being poached. It seems that there is just too much money being paid for some animals. Horned animals are very valuable to some people, as discussed before, therefore they need special protection. Will we some day be eating only plants? At the rate we are destroying living things, this may come to pass. Aside from food, some people believe that animals have the right to a life of their own as long as it doesn't interfere with man. The truth of the matter is that we need green areas to keep the earth healthy and why shouldn't these areas have animals in them? Animals help balance the ecosystem in many different ways. If we kill them all off then we might just be killing ourselves off as well.