Elephants are able to put across hesitation in regard to a particular act, to understand moral standards, to exercise their free will, to understand when they should act in a particular way, and to demonstrate that they can act in accordance to ethic values. In contrast to these principles, numerous humans are inclined to consider that elephants can only be considered important because of the benefits that they can bring to the human society (Chadwick 540)
Our genetic technology is only beginning to tap the vast potential benefits of these libraries, and seemingly 'minor' species are typically the most specialized organisms; we can expect that ecological specialists will often turn out to have the most unusual genes and hence represent potential resources that we should preserve for our future needs. (Clark) Additionally, minor species often have functions that we may not understand but that may be ecologically or evolutionarily important, often involving complex interactions of many other species, some of which may in turn be ecologically or commercially important
If we don't do anything, the risk is very high of one crazy person doing something very bad." (Garreau) Works Cited Clark, Kerry Bruce, Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida
We hope that this assessment will advance the argument that resources spent on preventing the introduction of potentially harmful species will be returned many times over in safeguarding our environment." (Hall) Another of the ways extinction of a species is carried out by the degradation of its habitat, say by pollution
' What it really means is something more like 'no known practical use given our current state of knowledge.' (Lovejoy) The Pacific Yew is an example of such a confusion as it used to be considered as a garbage tree until taxol, a compound found in its bark, was discovered to be a powerful drug against ovarian, lung and other cancers
" A threatened species "means any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range." (The Endangered Species Act of 1973) People can go into the moral and ethical concerns about ending any evolutionary line that goes back 3
Other threats to the polar bears also include hunting. (Aars, Derocher and Lunn, 2006) They have been hunted for thousands of years now for food, clothing and other religious purposes
The reduction in the insulating effect means that a bear must consume a lot of energy by increasing the calories in take to stay warm. (Norris, Rosentrater and Martin, 2002) Polar bears can also ingest oil by eating the contaminated preys like seals and seabirds
It helps to prevent the extinction of animals in the United States. In 2008, polar bear was also added as "threatened" species to the Unites States list of Endangered Species due to the loss of ice habitat (Seigel, Cummings, Moritz and Nowicki, 2007)
Polar bears and their prey which includes mostly seals depend on the sea ice for their reproduction and relaxing. (Tynan and DeMaster, 1997) the Arctic's ecosystem is driven by the climate and polar bears act as an important indicator of the effect of climatic changes on the Arctic
Brown bears are the precursor to the polar bears who eventually developed characteristics for surviving the harshness of the Arctic region. Hence, they are believed to be evolved from brown bears when they underwent series of evolutionary changes in order to adapt themselves to the harsh environment of the Arctic regions (Miller and Schuster, 2012) Nature when exercised the extreme pressures on the brown bear resulted in better adapted subspecies i
It is the smallest of three sturgeon species known to inhabit North America. These fish are known for their long life spans - known to exceed 65 years for females, and nearly 30 for males (Dadswell, 1984)
They were collected to add up to nearly 725,000 pounds per landing average during this particular decade. As these fish tend to have slow reproduction cycles, their population plummeted and by the 1920's, they yielded catches that had fallen to an average of only 22,000 pounds (Blankenship, 2007)
The majority of this growth has been attributed to its conservation and protection. According to the department of natural resources at Cornell, the population of the Shortnose Sturgeon has increased by more than 400% in the Hudson River since the 1970's (Lang, 2007)
This would include wolf populations in Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Utah, and Wisconsin. However, wolves in the state of Wyoming would still be protected (Burgess 2009)
Some of the negative consequences of the creation of the Endangered Species Act have included preemptive destruction of habitats by property owners who were concerned that the discovery of these animals would impact them financially. This scenario has become known as the "Shoot, Shovel, and Shut-Up" action (Dubner 2008)
One of the first successful actions of the Endangered Species Act had to do with cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of the pesticide DDT. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT was used as an insecticide on large crops to prevent bugs and birds from damaging the crops (Lear 1997)
In reply to this assertion, Bob Ream, retired wildlife biology professor and member of Montana's wildlife advisory commission said, "You have to ask the question, how many is enough? There's no danger to wolf populations -- wolves are here to stay. I don't think any amount of hunting in Montana will eliminate them" (Lyderson 2010)
In both states, the fear of an overpopulation of the grey wolf had led to the creation of state-sanctioned wolf hunts with a cap of around one hundred. This meant that the state approved the hunting of nearly a hundred animals that until recently had been considered endangered or at the very least "at risk" (Volz 2010)
Under the law, only certain animals classify as a population. As defined by NMFS, a population or group of populations may be protected as a species under ESA if it is reproductively isolated from other populations and if it represents an important component in the evolutionary legacy (Waples 1991)