Classification of Animals

Certain animals are endangered - if they are not helped, they are likely to become extinct.

If you click on the image below, it takes you to the list of animals that are threatened with extinction

Endangered species

Factors that can cause a species to become extinct include:

  • changes to the environment, such as a change in climate

  • destruction of habitats

  • hunting

  • pollution

Extinction is still happening and a lot of it occurs because of humans. Human beings compete with other living things for space, food, water and very successful predators.

Helping endangered species

An endangered species is at risk of becoming extinct. For example, the panda and gorilla are endangered and may become extinct.

A Quagga

For example, the South African quagga was a type of zebra that became extinct because of hunting. The last wild quagga was shot in the late 1870s. However, a lone female quagga later died in a zoo in Amsterdam in 1883, the last of her species.

A species may even be at risk of become extinct if there is not enough genetic variation in the population. This can happen even if the population is still quite large.

The dodo

The dodo was a large flightless bird that lived on Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean. The island was uninhabited and the dodo had no natural predators. Then Mauritius was colonised by the Dutch in 1638. Dodos were hunted for food and were easy to catch. New competitors were brought onto the island, including pigs, cats and rats. These ate the dodos’ eggs and their young and within 80 years the dodo was extinct.

An endangered species is at risk of becoming extinct. For example, the panda and gorilla are endangered and may become extinct.

For example, the South African quagga was a type of zebra that became extinct because of hunting. The last wild quagga was shot in the late 1870s. However, a lone female quagga later died in a zoo in Amsterdam in 1883, the last of her species.


Conservation measures

It is important to conserve the variety of living things on Earth. Through conservation we can

  • keeps damage to food chains and food webs to a minimum

  • protects our future food supply

Some species in Britain are endangered, including the red kite, red squirrel and osprey. They could be helped by conservation measures such as:

  • education programmes

  • breeding in captivity

  • protection of their habitats

  • making artificial ecosystems for them to live in.

Plant species can also be endangered. Seed banks are a conservation measure for plants. Seeds are carefully stored so that new plants may be grown in the future.