Endangered Animals of Asia - barrington220.org...endangered species. Many of the animals that are endangered are important to the health of their habitats. The good news is that people

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Macaques, shown here, are a type ofmonkey that lives in Asia.iStockphoto/Thinkstock

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Endangered Animals of Asia

Welcome to Asia!

Asia is Earth’s biggest continent. Half the people in the world live there.The countries of China and India each have more than one billionpeople living in them!

All these people need places to live and work to do. People cut downforests and burn plant life to make room for homes and businesses.Doing these things has caused many animal species in Asia to becomeendangered.

Asia’s Climate

Climate is the weather in aplace over a long time. Asiahas every kind of climatethat happens on Earth. Theclimate in the center of Asiahas cold winters and hotsummers. Asia has a hot,dry climate in the southwestand Arctic temperaturesin the north.

Asia has hot, rainy climates, too. In Southeast Asia, the temperature is

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These elephants are cooling off in a riverin a warm, wet climate in Southeast Asia.iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Przewalski’s horses, shown here, areendangered wild horses that are native tothe steppe habitats in Asia. There are onlyabout 250 of these horses living in the

around 80° F (27° C) year-round. Places with this climate get between60 and 100 inches (152–254 cm) of rain each year. There are manyplants and animals in the rain forests there. There are also a largenumber of endangered species.

Habitats in Asia

Asia has many differenthabitats. Reindeer eatmosses and lichens onAsia’s tundra, which is acold, treeless habitat.Bears, birds, and otters livein the taiga habitat south ofthe tundra. The cool, drygrassy plains called steppes are hard places to live, but rodents, bugs,and lizards make their homes there. There are hot, dry desert habitats.There are warm, wet rain forest habitats, too.

Many of Asia’s natural habitats have been taken over by people. Aspeople build homes in or take natural resources from these habitats,they change and sometimes destroy them. Habitat destruction is oneof the greatest enemies of Asia’s animals.

Asia’s EndangeredAnimals

Many of Asia’s animals areendangered. If things donot change, the animals onthese pages could one daybecome extinct.

Snow Leopard

A snow leopard is apowerful cat. It can

1.


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wild.iStockphoto/Thinkstock

jump as far as 50 feet(15 m) and can killprey that is three times its weight.

Orangutan

Orangutans live in Borneo and Sumatra. They are endangeredbecause of habitat loss, hunting, and the pet trade. Scientistsguess that orangutans could be extinct in the wild in 10 to 20years.

2.

Proboscis Monkey

Proboscis monkeys generally live in groups of around 12. They sitin branches over water. They can jump into the water and swimaway from any animals that want to eat them.

3.

Komodo Dragon

Komodo dragons are the largest lizards on Earth. These fearsomehunters run quickly, climb trees, and swim!

4.

Asian Crested Ibis

In 1981, there were only seven Asian crested ibises left in theworld. Luckily, with people taking an interest in this bird, itsnumbers are now up to more than 250 birds.

5.

Save the Pandas!

Thegiantpanda ispart ofthe bearfamily.It livesin a few

THINKGREENHabitat

destruction is a

major problem

for pandas.


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Where Endangered Animals LiveAnup Shah/Digital Vision/Thinkstock

The panda is one of the best known andmost loved of Earth’s endangered animals.It has even become a national mascot forChina, where it naturally lives.iStockphoto/Thinkstock

mountain ranges in centralChina. Pandas used to live in lowlands, too. However, people clearedlowland forests to make way for farms and homes.

Pandas’ thick, black-and-white fur keeps them warm as they look forfood in their cool habitat. The panda spends up to 16 hours a dayeating. This is because it mostly eats bamboo, which is hard to digest.To get enough energy from this food, the bears must eat up to 40pounds (18 kg) of it a day!

Snow Leopards inTrouble

Snow leopards are beautifulwild cats. They make theirhomes in the mountains ofcentral Asia, fromAfghanistan up throughMongolia and throughoutmuch of China.

Because their fur is sobeautiful, snow leopardsare often hunted for theirskin. People also use snowleopard bones in medicines.

Snow leopards are endangered for other reasons, too. The food theylike to eat is not as plentiful as it once was. This means there is notenough food to support large populations of this hunter. People are alsotaking over snow leopards’ habitat. There are between 3,500 and7,000 of these animals left in the wild.

There are only

1,600 of these

bears in the wild

today.


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Snow leopards eat wild sheep, pikas,hares, birds, and other animals. Thesecats like to hunt alone, and they do notlike to share. Once they catch their prey,they often take it into a tree to keep itaway from other animals.Shutterstock.com

Help the ProboscisMonkey

The proboscis monkey isknown for its large nose.When these monkeysbecome excited or angry,their noses get bigger andredder. They use theirnoses to make differentsounds.

This monkey is found onlyon the island of Borneo, inSoutheast Asia. It livesmostly in mangroveforests by rivers andstreams. The monkeys usethe mangroves as homes.

They also eat the trees’ leaves along with some fruit and seeds.Mangrove forests are disappearing as people cut down trees and moveinto these places. The proboscis monkeys are disappearing, too. Onlyabout 7,000 of these monkeys remain in the wild.

Komodo Dragonsin Danger

Komodo dragons are huge,powerful lizards. These10-foot (3-m) long reptileseat nearly anything. Thisincludes dead animals,deer, pigs, and otherKomodo dragons. If theKomodo dragon’s bite does


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The word “proboscis” means “long snout.”It is easy to see why the proboscis monkeyhas this name!iStockphoto/Thinkstock

The Komodo dragon is the world’s largestlizard species.Hemera/Thinkstock

not kill its prey, its venomsoon will.

These animals live on smallislands in Indonesia.Komodo dragons are athome in the forests,grasslands, and coaststhere.

There are fewer than 5,000 Komodo dragons living in the wild. Forsome reason, most of these Komodo dragons are males. This makes ithard for male Komodo dragons to find female mates.

Asian CrestedIbises

Asian crested ibises wereonce widespread in fareastern Russia, Japan, andChina. They are now extinctin most of these places.They remain in only oneplace in central China.

In the 1970s, peoplethought these ibises wereextinct. However, in 1981,seven birds were found. Chinese scientists worked hard to save thebirds’ habitat. They also raised birds in captivity. Some have alsobeen raised in captivity in Japan and then let out into the wild. By2002, there were 130 of these birds. Today it is believed the wildpopulation is about 250 birds, with more living in captivity. The story ofthe Asian crested ibis is a great example of how conservation work canreally help bring a species back.

Save Asia’s


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The Asian crested ibis has red skin on itsface and legs.Sankei/Getty Images

People are starting to see how important itis to keep the wild animals in Asia safe.Martin Harvey/Getty Images

Animals!

You might wonder why it isimportant to saveendangered species. Manyof the animals that areendangered are importantto the health of theirhabitats.

The good news is thatpeople in Asia and otherplaces are starting to see how important it is to keep the wild animalsthere safe. Countries in Asia have set aside lands to keep some ofthese animals safe. Zoos work to teach people and to breedendangered species that can sometimes be put back into the wild.Even with all this work, Asia’s endangered animals still need our help.

Find Out More

The Web sites and booksbelow can help you domore research on yourtopic.

Web Sites

American Museum ofNatural History: AsianElephantshttp://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/Endangered/elephant/elephant.html

Woodland Park Zoo: Komodo Dragonhttp://www.zoo.org/Page.aspx?pid=485

World Wildlife Fund: Giant Panda


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http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/giant_panda

Books

Fireston, Mary. Top Ten Reasons to Care About Giant Pandas: Animalsin Peril. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Pub., 2010.

Riehecky, Janet. Komodo Dragons: On the Hunt Mankato, MN:Heinemann-Raintree, 2008.

Turner, Matt. Asian Elephant (Animals Under Threat). Mankato, MN:Heinemann-Raintree, 2008.

GLOSSARY

breed (BREED) To bring a male and a female animal together sothey will have babies.

captivity (kap-TIH-vih-tee) A place where animals live, such as in ahome, a zoo, or an aquarium, instead of living in the wild.

destruction (dih-STRUK-shun) Great damage or ruin.

digest (dy-JEST) To break down food so that the body can use it.

extinct (ik-STINGKT) No longer existing.

habitats (HA-buh-tats) The kinds of land where animals or plantsnaturally live.

mangrove forests (MAN-grohv FAWR-ests) Forests of trees thatgrow in swamps and along rivers.

mates (MAYTS) Male and female animals that come together tomake babies.

reptiles (REP-tylz) Cold-blooded animals with thin, dry pieces of skincalled scales.

resources (REE-sawrs-ez) Supplies or sources of energy or usefulthings.

species (SPEE-sheez) One kind of living thing. All people are onespecies.


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temperatures (TEM-pur-cherz) How hot or cold things are.

venom (VEH-num) A poison passed by one animal into anotherthrough a bite or a sting.

Article Citation in MLA (ModernLanguage Association) format:

"Endangered Animals of Asia."PowerKnowledge Life Science. RosenPublishing Group, Inc., 2013. Web. 8 Jan.2013 <http://www.pklifescience.com/article/323/endangered-animals-of-asia>

Article Citation in APA (AmericanPsychological Association) format:

PowerKnowledge Life Science. (2013).Endangered Animals of Asia. RetrievedJanuary 8, 2013, fromhttp://www.pklifescience.com/article/323/endangered-animals-of-asia

® The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 2013.


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Endangered Animals of Asia - barrington220.org...endangered species. Many of the animals that are endangered are important to the health of their habitats. The good news is that people