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Endangered species
American Peregrine Falcon
In 1988, at a site now inundated by Greers Ferry Lake, peregrine falcons
reared their young. Over a century passed before fledgling peregrines
returned to Arkansas.
In June 1993, an environmental team flew to Minnesota and picked up five
fledgling falcons. These birds were given a new home at the Arkansas
Power & Light Company power station on the White River in Independence
County. They were acclimated to their new area in a hacking station 300
feet above the ground, then released when ready to fly. Three birds
survived and were often seen flying near the White and Black rivers.
In 1994, six more Minnesota peregrines were released from a hacking
station atop the TCBY Tower in Little Rock, Arkansas s tallest building.
It is hoped the relocated falcons will imprint on their new homeland and
return to nest on permanent structures built for their use.
Reintroductions like these have worked successfully in many other parts
of the U.S., thanks in part to falconers who have raised thousands of
peregrines in captivity for eventual release.
Although peregrines live on every continent except Antarctica, they are
always rare. In Arkansas, they re most likely to be seen from
mid-September through mid-May in southern lowlands.
The peregrine s recent history holds a cautionary tale. In the 1950s and
60s, these magnificent birds were nearly wiped out when their food
chain was contaminated with pesticides, primarily DDT. All 275 known
nesting sites in the eastern U. S. were deserted by 1964. To our good
fortune, however, they were saved from extinction. There are now more
than 1,200 pairs in North America, a four-fold increase in the last 20
years.
Unfortunately, we still have not roused ourselves to face the real
enemy. DDT and other persistent pesticides continue to be manufactured
and exported to the Third World, and the chemicals currently used in
Western countries may be almost as deadly. Many contend we must change
agricultural practices on a global scale; only then will we be heeding
the message of hope the falcon brings.
Bald Eagle
In 1994, America s efforts to save endangered species reached a
milestone with the announcement by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
that the bald eagle had recovered sufficiently to change its status from
endangered to threatened in most of the nation. Bald eagle numbers in
the lower 48 states climbed from 417 nesting pairs in 1963 to more than
4,400 pairs in 1994. In addition, 5,000 to 6,000 juvenile bald eagles
live in the lower 48. Federal protection and tremendous public support
led to this recovery -- through stricter law enforcement, protection of
important habitat, reintroduction, a strong public education program and
banning of DDT, a pesticide that interfered with normal eggshell
production.
The first successful bald eagle nesting since 1930 was reported in
Arkansas in 1982. In 1995, 18 pairs of Arkansas eagles successfully
fledged young from the nest. An eagle hacking program started by the
Game and Fish Commission in 1982 contributed to this resurgence. Young
eagles from Minnesota and Wisconsin are brought to the state, raised in
"hacking" facilities and released in hopes they will return to raise
their young in Arkansas.
Arkansas ranks in the top 10 states in the number of winter bald eagle
sightings. Over 1,000 bald eagles are counted each winter, nearly triple
the 368 recorded in 1979.
Gray Bat
The gray bat s range is concentrated in the cave regions of Arkansas,
Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, with occasional colonies and
individuals in adjacent states. The population is estimated at more than
1.5 million; however, about 95 percent hibernate in only eight caves --
two in Tennessee, three in Missouri, and one each in Kentucky, Alabama
and Arkansas. This makes the population extremely vulnerable.
Gray bat numbers decreased significantly during recent decades -- 61
percent in Arkansas, 89 percent in Kentucky, 81 percent in Missouri and
76 percent in Tennessee and Alabama. The population is now on the
upswing, though, as a result of improved breeding success due to better
protection measures such as cave gates, fences and informational signs
near caves.
One Arkansas hibernation cave houses about 250,000 gray bats, over 15
percent of the total population. About 150,000 gray bats occupy Arkansas
caves in summer.
People who disturb hibernation and maternity colonies present one of the
greatest threats. Maternity colonies won t tolerate any disturbance,
especially when flightless newborn young are present. Thousands of baby
bats may be dropped to their deaths or abandoned by panicked parents. If
aroused during hibernation, bats increase use of stored fat reserves,
and if the disturbance is intense or frequent enough, starvation may
result before insects are available in spring.
degraded by excessive pollution and siltation
Indiana Bat
These small brown bats are known for their remarkable hibernation
clusters. Each bat hangs by its feet from the cave ceiling, and as many
as 480 have been counted in a single square foot.
Indiana bats range throughout much of the eastern U. S. They number less
than 400,000. More than 85 percent hibernate at only seven locations
--tow caves and a mine in Missouri, two caves in Indiana and two caves
in Kentucky.
A marked decline has been reported in Arkansas populations. Indianas no
longer visit 10 caves where they previously hibernated. A Newton County
cave that once contained 7,000 hibernating Indiana bats now shelters
less than 200.
Currently, only eight Arkansas caves house more than 30 Indianas during
their winter hibernation period (October to April). The present Arkansas
population (less than 3,000) is half the 1981 size.
The total U. S. population dropped more than 34 percent since 1983. The
decline is attributed to commercialization of roosting caves, killing by
vandals, disturbances caused by increased numbers of spelunkers and bat
banding programs, use of bats as laboratory experimental animals and
possible insecticide poisoning. Some winter hibernacula are unstable as
a result of blocking or impeding airflow into the caves and thereby
changing the cave s climate.
One Arkansas hibernation cave was fenced by the National Park Service to
protect Indiana and gray bats. Four additional hibernation caves in the
Ozark National Forest and one on Buffalo National River lands are closed
to the public and posted with signs to protect bat colonies. Protecting
these caves may result in an increase in bat populations at these caves,
but experts say it s unlikely Indiana bats will recolonize abandoned
caves.
Only male Indiana bats have been found in Arkansas during summer.
Females migrate northward to maternity roosts north of the Ozarks.
Ozark Big-Eared Bat
This bat is aptly named, for its ears are of comic-book proportions.
They re usually curled when the animal rests, like miniature ram s
horns. Lump-nosed bat is another common name, a reference to a
conspicuous protuberance between the nostril and eye.
About 1,700 Ozark big-eareds remain. Approximately 1,400 inhabit a few
caves in eastern Oklahoma. The rest live in two Arkansas caves -- a
hibernation cave and a nearby maternity cave in the Ozarks. A Missouri
population is now considered extinct.
Human disturbance and wanton killing at caves are the primary reasons
for their endangered status. Predation at cave entrances by feral house
cats, raccoons, screech owls, bobcats and snakes may also be a factor in
their decline.
Intensive efforts to protect Ozark big-eared bats in Oklahoma led the
Fish and Wildlife Service to establish the Oklahoma Bat Cave National
Wildlife Refuge. The Arkansas hibernation cave is owned and protected by
the Natural Heritage Commission, and the owner of the maternity cave has
entered into an agreement to protect that site.
Pallid Sturgeon
Little is known about the pallid sturgeon. This bottom-feeding fish
reaches 68 pounds but is rarely observed and infrequently taken on
hook-and-line. Even historical records are sketchy, for the species was
not formally distinguished from the more-common shovelnose sturgeon
until 1905.
Pallid sturgeons are rare throughout their range, which includes the
Missouri River and the Mississippi River below St. Louis. Only two
records are known for Arkansas, one each from the Mississippi and St.
Francis rivers.
The sturgeon s decline should concern all Arkansans, because it is one
indication that big river systems like the Mississippi are sick.
Creation and maintenance of the Mississippi River as a navigation system
has altered the waterway and continues to threaten its viability as an
ecosystem. Municipal wastewater discharges, industrial pollution,
agricultural runoff and sedimentation due to erosion contaminate the
river and pose a major threat tot river species. These problems threaten
pallid sturgeons and humans alike.
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
In the mid-1800s, John J. AUDUBON described the red-cockaded woodpecker
as abundant in Southern pine forests. Today, 10,000 to 14,000 remain,
living in a fragmented range in the southeastern U. S.
Unlike other woodpeckers, the red-cockaded roosts in cavities in live
pines. It needs 80 to 120-year-old pines for its cavities, and extensive
pine and pine-hardwood forests to meet its foraging requirements. Much
of the Southeast has been cleared for agriculture. Many remaining pine
forests are unsuitable for the red-cockaded woodpecker. Each year, more
areas become unsuitable. Because of the drastic loss and continued
decline of habitat, the bird is endangered.
In 1994, 157 active clusters (groups of cavity trees) were found in
Arkansas --- 121 on private lands, 35 on federal land (Primarily
Felsenthal NWR) and one on state property. Most are in southern
counties.
For the species to survive here, private landowners must take positive
steps to aid its recovery. Fortunately, that s beginning to happen. In
1993, the Georgia-Pacific Company established a landmark conservation
agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service to hall protect the
woodpecker on thousands of acres of company land. Other companies have
established similar agreements. The species has also responded favorable
to artificial cavity and translocation programs.
Atlantic Salmon
The Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) is often called "The king of the
river" (which belongs to the genus Oncorhynchus)
Salmon are fish that can be two metres long and more than forty
kilograms in weight.
Their muzzle is long, and they have a lot of teeth in their mouth. Their
skin colour changes with the age and sex; when they are at rest the
colour on the back is iron-blue and the belly is white, but when they go
up the rivers, their back becomes dark.
They have a voracious appetite and can swim very fast when they live in
the sea, but when they go up the river, they do not eat until after they
spawn, that is why they become weak.
At the moment of their reproduction the salmon comes back to the river,
where it was born, to the highest course, and there the females lay the
eggs from November till December;.
They make a pit in the stream gravel into which they lay thousands of
eggs, and after that they cover them with sand from the bottom. Later,
the males cover the eggs with seminal liquid during a week.
After three months birth takes place, and after some states (fry,
parr...) they become adults.
In Spain there are salmon in the northern rivers but it has been checked
that the number of salmon that go up the rivers is decreasing in an
alarming way.
The salmon lives in the seas of the northen hemisphere, and it gets into
the European and North American rivers at regular times and it is a
relative of the Pacific salmon.
At the beginning of this century there were in the Narcea River (the
most important river in Spain as far as salmon are concerned) about five
thousand salmon going up the river in a year, nowadays there are hardly
one thousand.
There are many causes of depopulation of the Spanish rivers: natural and
artificial obstacles, water pollution,overfishing..
We must use different approaches to solve these problems. We could build
fish ladders to allow salmon to go upstream, try to purify the current
state of the water, regulate and forbide the use of nets and apply
sanctions against the dumping of toxic products.
Another method would be through natural and artificial restocking.
The solution is in our hands; what today is easy, tomorrow would be a
waste of time.!
Perhaps there does not exist an animal so pursued as the salmon. After a
long time in the ocean, where it has suffered considerably because of
the voracity of its enemies, and it gets closer to the coast looking for
its river to reproduce.
This is when really the salmpn s struggle for life begins because it has
to face up to the worst and the most terrible enemy - Man.
Today we are in time, tomorrow it may be too late!!!
Great White Shark
The Great White is a fish. It has a fin on the top of the body called a
dorsil fin.
The Great White can grow from six to twelve metres long. It is a grey
blue colour on top of it s body and white on the bottom. The great white
shark eats seals, fish, other sharks, carrien of dead whales, octopus
and rubbish.
When they have babies, the babies go away or risk getting eaten by the
mother.
The great white shark is found in cold waters and warm waters.
Sometimes great white sharks are found in lakes of Australia and New
Zealand.
The great white shark is endangered because people are killing them for
food and sport.
People are scared of them.
They also are endangered because people are polluting the water.
People should not pollute the ocean. They should not kill great whites
for food or sport.
Great white sharks are not man eaters. Leave sharks alone to swim in
peace.
We have loved the sea for a long time and we have always wanted to do a
project on The great white shark
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