The dinosaurs are the most popular extinct animals. However, millions of years ago is not the only period when animals can go extinct, up until now, even in this modern times, there are a lot of animal species that are disappearing and becoming extinct. An endangered animal is on the brink of becoming extinct. According to the “Extinct and Endangered Animals” article, extinct species outnumber the living ones on a ratio of a thousand to one.

Since the beginning of life in Earth around 3.5 billion years ago, a lot of species have come and go and 99.9 of the life forms ever existed on the planet are extinct. Some of the main reasons why animals become extinct or endangered are drastic changes in the environment, over-predation, over hunting, disease, destruction of habitat, or combinations of these things.

One of the actions done to protect these animals is the Endangered Species Act (ESA) created by the federal government. This act not only protects animals, but plants as well. They try to save these endangered animals through raising awareness. An endangered animal, unlike an extinct animal, can still be saved, because there is still enough population on Earth for their procreation to boost their population.

Here is a list of extinct and endangered fishes, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds:

1. Extinct and endangered fishes. The Tecopa pupfish is already extinct. This fish was usually found in the Death Valley Region of California. This is a white fish that can survive very hot waters. The Thailand giant catfish is an endangered animal; this is the biggest freshwater fish in the world.

2. Extinct and endangered amphibians. The Northern gastric brooding frog is an extinct frog. According to the calculations of the Save the Frog movement, it became extinct in the late 20th century. The California Tiger salamander is an endangered animal. It is called tiger salamander because of its yellow and white spots.

3. Extinct and endangered reptiles. The dinosaurs are the most famous extinct reptiles. The leatherback sea turtle is an endangered reptile. It can weigh as heavy as 1,700 pounds.

4. Extinct and endangered mammals. The Arabian Gazelle is an extinct mammal. There are 188 endangered mammals in the world and one of them is the European Rabbit.

5. Extinct and endangered birds. The Dodo bird is an extinct bird. Portuguese explorers discovered these birds on the Mauritius Island during 1505. The California condor is an endangered animal.

Reference: Illustrated Encyclopedia of endangered animals.

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Tags: endangered animals, endangered animals list, extinct animals, extinct animals list

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 at 5:01 am and is filed under Endangered Animals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.