It takes just one bullet to get an animal on the endangered animals list. Yet rhino poachers are known to carry dozens of bullets because they don’t care about any endangered animals list. All they want is to get the horns. From the 5th century, there has been a belief that the horn of a rhino has medicinal benefits. Using it as an antidote to some poisons will counter the effects of the poison.

In some areas in Asia, the tail of the rhino is believed to help a woman give birth. In the 1970s, daggers made from the rhino horn became a symbol of stature and wealth. The demand increased dramatically when oil was discovered in Middle Eastern countries and Yemen. Yemen even became the highest importer of the rhino horn daggers because even if is extremely expensive suddenly, they could afford it easily. The price in 1990 for a pair of black rhino horns reached as high as US$50,000. Now you understand, why bringing along several rounds of ammunition is peanuts and necessary to make sure the rhinos horns are brought back.

Tragically, the population of all kinds of rhinos declined sharply. The punishment for rhino poaching is a drop in the bucket compared to the crime. In Mozambique, the penalty for being caught rhino poaching is 13 years in jail. Hardly a fair punishment when you think that poachers have to trespass into an enclosed, protected zone to find the rhino horns.

In Zimbabwe, due to poaching, the count is now less than 500 rhinos in an area where there was once 1,500.  Many of the locals don’t care that much to effect changes, and prevent poaching. Or, they are scared at the sight of guns and goons.

The rhino has been around for over 60 million years. Imagine that in this lifetime, this century, we may be facing the extinction of these majestic beasts. One rhino species, the hornless rhino is already extinct. There are 5 more, and each one is in dire need of help.

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.