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Saving The Northern White Rhino

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Who Are the Northern White Rhinos?

The northern white rhinoceros is one of the largest and rarest land mammals, native to East and Central Africa. Once numbering in the thousands, their population has drastically declined due to poaching and habitat loss. Today, only two known females remain: Najin and Fatu, both residing under 24-hour protection at a conservancy in Kenya. Scientists are worried that this amazing animal will disappear forever, since conventional breeding techniques to bring them back from the brink of extinction are no longer an option.

theguardian.com

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Also Watch full video Interesting Facts About Lions

How are Scientists Helping?

An international team of scientists at Scripps Research, the SanDiego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, and other collaborators have mapped the entire genome of a northern white rhino.This represents a crucial step toward bringing the critically endangered species back from the edge using advanced reproductive technologies. “What’s so exciting about this milestone is that we’re getting closer to being able to rescue animals that otherwise might go extinct during our lifetimes“, says co-senior author Jeanne Loring, Professor Emeritus at Scripps Research and a research fellow at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “This is great progress not only for white rhinos, but for the entire field of animal Conservation“.

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India to welcome 8 Cheetahs from Botswana

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India is bringing 8 cheetahs all the way from Botswana, a country in Africa, as a part of its ongoing Project Cheetah initiative. The translocation will take place in two phases, with four cheetahs expected to arrive by May 2025 and the remaining four in the subsequent months. Cheetahs disappeared from India many years ago, and now the government wants to bring them back to help protect and grow their population. The cheetahs coming from Botswana will be settled at the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. Most of the cheetahs that were brought to India from Africa under this initiative are currently living in the Kuno National Park, also in Madhya Pradesh. The Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary will become a second home for these big cats. In fact, two African cheetahs were recently released into the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Watch full video on Cheetah- The Fastest Mammal on LandLeopard Facts For Kids 

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What is Project Cheetah?

Project Cheetah is a big plan started by India to reintroduce cheetahs back into the country after they went extinct here about 70 years ago. The last Indian cheetah was seen in the 1950s, and since then, there have been none left in the wild.

To fix this, India brought cheetahs from Africa (countries like Namibia and South Africa) and released them into special protected areas. The first group of eight cheetahs arrived in September 2022, and more have come since then. The goal of Project Cheetah is to help cheetahs live and grow in India again, so they can be part of the wild and help keep nature balanced.

Did you know?

Currently, there are 29 cheetahs at the Kuno National Park. Eight adult cheetahs and five cubs have died since the project began.

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WWF: WildLife In Danger

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Living Planet Report (“Report”) is a report which is published by the World Wildlife Foundation (“WWF”) every two years. Experts from all over the world use the Living Planet index to monitor the health of the Earth and the animals. It tracks the population sizes of vertebrates like mammals, birds, reptiles and fish. It also checks if the population of animals is increasing or decreasing, and tries to understand the reasons behind the same, along with giving solutions. The Living Planet Index 2024 has covered the period from 1970 to 2020 and included data on 34,836 populations of 5,495 vertebrate species.

Finding Of The Latest Report 

  • Average wildlife populations have fallen by 73% in 50 years!
  • 85% drop has been reported for the population sizes of freshwater species.
  • Animal species in Latin America and the Caribbean have seen even more extreme average declines of 95% since 1970.
  • North America and Europe are responsible for nature loss in other countries because they import livestock that is grown in areas that were once wild.
  • The biggest threat to wildlife is loss of habitats. Other threats include invasive species, disease, climate change, and pollution.

The Warning!

The Report has warned that due to the rate of decline of animal species, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, and melting of the polar ice caps in Antarctica, the Earth is fast approaching a tipping point. This could impact food security and livelihoods across the world and even loss of healthy ecosystems across the world. The WWF has called the figures a “wake-up call” and warns in the report that “what happens in the next five years will determine the future of life on Earth”.

Word Check

Tipping points are points which, if reached, there’s no way of getting things back to the way they were.

Did You Know?

The Amazon rainforest is a very important habitat, as it is home to 10% of wildlife species on Earth. The Amazon rainforest converts carbon dioxide into oxygen and is therefore sometimes called the Earth’s Lungs. With respect to the Amazon rainforest, a tipping point could be reached if just 20–25% of the Amazon rainforest were destroyed! It is estimated 14–17% has already been deforested.

What Can Be Done?

The Report has given the following three important suggestions regarding what countries around the world need to do now: 

  1. Transform food production – Currently, the food production INDIAMART system of the world uses 40% of the Earth’s habitable land. This is causing habitat loss, as forests and grasslands are being converted into farmland. The countries need to find more nature-friendly methods of farming nutritious food for the world to eat
  1. Transform finance – The Report has recommended that less money should be invested in environmentally-harmful activities and more into things that help restore nature.
  1. Moving to clean energy – We need to stop greenhouse emissions by stopping the use of fossil fuels. The countries need to use more renewable forms of energy like solar and wind.

The Living Planet Report On India

The Report states that keeping in mind the global demand for food production by 2050, India’s food consumption pattern is the most climate-friendly among G20 nations. The Report has highlighted that India’s diet is the least harmful to the environment. If all countries adopted India’s consumption patterns, the world would require less than one Earth to support food production by 2050, making it a model for sustainability. On the other hand, the Report has also stated that countries like Argentina, Australia, and the US have the least sustainable pattern, with respect to their diet and food choices. 

The Report has recommended that people should eat a more sustainable diet, which would reduce the amount of land needed to produce food. The researchers have said that achieving a healthy and nutritious diet will be heavily influenced by local cultural traditions, individual choice, and available food. The Report has praised India’s National Millet Campaign for promoting climate-resilient grains, such as millets, “In some countries, promoting traditional foods will be an important lever to shift diets. For example, the National Millett Campaign in India is designed to increase national consumption of this ancient grain, which is good for health and highly resilient in the face of climate change”.

Word Check

G20 is a club of countries who meet every year to discuss plans for the world economy. G20 is made up of 19 of the world’s largest economies plus a representative from the European Union.

Could The Tasmanian Tiger Come Back From Extinction?

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An American company called Colossal (who are also trying to bring back the Woolly mammoth and Dodo from extinction) have teamed up with Australian scientists from the University of Melbourne to try to find a way to bring the Tasmanian tiger back. Their goal is to develop an animal that is as close to the Tasmanian tiger as possible, by using DNA and gene-editing techniques. In a thrilling discovery, the scientists had found part of a Tasmanian tiger, which had been preserved for around 108 years, in a museum. From this they were able to take a very high-quality sample of the animal’s DNA and RNA molecules. 

These samples are only missing around 45 pieces of information, out of around three billion pieces in total – giving them a far more complete ‘blueprint’ to help make the Tasmanian Tiger. The scientists will then use gene-editing techniques, to take the cells of animals that exist today who have very similar DNA to the Tasmanian tiger, to fill in the missing information gaps. They say the process could take around three to five years. They also know that the new creature would not be 100% a Tasmanian tiger, but would be “more than 99.9% accurate”.

What was the Tasmanian Tiger?

Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine was a wolf-like carnivorous marsupi al. It was about the size of a large dog, who once used to roam the forests of Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania. The last known Tasmanian tiger died in Hobart zoo in 1936, with the rest of the species hunted to extinction.

Do you think it is a good idea to bring back animals from extinction? Can you think of some ways in when such experiments could impact the world? __________________________

Rare Caribbean Wildlife Species Saved From Extinction

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The Caribbean islands are home to thousands of rare animals. These animals have suffered the highest extinction rates in modern history.. However, conservationists that have been working to protect nature and animals in the Caribbean for over 30 years have now restored their thirtieth island, helping to save over 12 more species.

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The following are some of the animals they’re helping to survive:

Antiguan Racers

The Antiguan racers, once known as the world’s rarest snake, are harmless and incredibly slow moving. In 1995 it was thought that there were just 50 of them left, all on one small island. Now there are over 1,000 living on four islands. Experts say it can be difficult to protect snakes because they aren’t always the most popular animal.

thedodo.com

White Clay Rock Iguana

Thirty years ago, white cay rock iguana were on the brink of extinction, with fewer than 150 living on a small island in the Bahamas. However, today there are at least 2,000 white cay rock iguana. Removing certain animals like non-native raccoons and rats, from the area helped protect the species. Even the protection provided by law to this endangered species, greatly helped.

wallpapers13.com

Sombrero Ground Lizard

Sombrero ground lizards live on Sombrero Island off the coast of Anguilla. This island has been impacted by deforestation and severe hurricanes. The number of lizards fell to less than 100. However, through techniques like removing invasive species, the lizard’s population has more than tripled since 2021.

uk.inaturalist.org

Saint Lucia Whiptail Lizard

There are 2,000 species of lizards native to the island Saint Lucia Saint Lucia whiptail lizard is a lizard with a population of less than 1,000, Conservationists have applied various conservation techniques, including making areas free of predators to improve their status.

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