Antarctica Fishing Is Over!!!

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Every day more animals disappear  from the world. They are over-hunted, over-fished, and lose their homes to logging, climate change, and human building. 

I've been worried about Antarctica for a long time. It's home to over 10,000 species. Whales, penguins, seals, fish, sea birds, and even Krill call the Antarctic home. This week over twenty-four countries including China, Russia, America, Australia, and New Zealand created the largest no fishing area in the world. 

An area two times the size of Texas is now a marine reserve in the Ross Sea. This means no more fishing! Orcas and seals won't have to compete with fishermen for their favorite food the toothfish. This agreement begins in December. 

Animalgirl wants to congratulate all the countries who were smart enough to protect the animals that can't protect themselves. You get a gold star from Animalgirl. Now how about protecting the Amazon Rain Forests!!!

"Some think it's cool to hurt animals, but I think it's cruel."

Can You Believe The Biggest Animal in the World is Endangered?

Can you believe that the biggest animal on earth is endangered? You would think that it could defend itself easily, and it does from predators. But it can't defend itself from humans. What animal am I talking about? It's the Blue Whale and it is one of my favorite mammals.

Courtesy of NOAA

The Blue Whale is almost 100 feet long and can weigh more than 150 tons. Can you imagine? My dad is 6 feet tall. It would take more than 16 dads as tall as mine standing on each others shoulders to be as long as a blue whale. And if an elephant weighs 12 tons, just think of how many elephants it would take to weigh as much as an adult blue whale. It's amazing how big this whale is! 

But this whale is not only big, it also has one of the loudest voices of all animals. It can keep in contact with other blue whales hundreds and even thousands of miles away because its powerful voice can travel through the ocean that far. 

So what does this huge whale eat? It eats krill. Krill is a small shrimp-like crustacean, and the blue whale eats 4 tons of them each day. Now, I like shrimp too, but I can't eat that much. 

Blue whales are endangered because they were over-hunted until someone smart realized that there weren't as many around as there once was. That's when they became endangered. But it's not just hunting that is bad for blue whales. 

Pollution kills whales. Blue whales need a clean ocean to live in. Plastic garbage can take their lives, and so can chemical spills. Noise is another type of pollution. That's right. Noise pollution can stop their communication and their navigational abilities. Some whales even get stranded on the coastline because of noises caused by boat traffic, explosions, military operations, and drilling for gas and oil.

For more information on how you can help blue whales contact Green Peace, Defenders, or World Wildlife Federation. You can also learn more about them through NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) here

Remember my motto--

"Some think it's cool, but I think it's cruel."

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

This is the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Until 2005, everyone thought this critically endangered bird was extinct. Then in 2005, it was spotted in Arkansas. It lives in old pine forests of southeastern America, and hopefully Cuba. More about Cuba in a minute. 

This woodpecker lost most of its habitat in the 1800s when people moved into the old forests and cut down the trees. By the 1900s, there were only a few left. Then it looked like there weren't any. So, in 1994 wildlife experts thought they were all extinct. Everyone thought they were gone forever, but in 2005 someone took a video of one in an Arkansas forest and the race was on to find it.  

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, that's bird science, set off to find it. They searched and searched. Look here. Some of the searchers thought they spotted a couple. There was even a scratchy video taken of one on a tree. But it just wasn't enough. Even after all the searching, there was no real evidence to prove the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was still alive. That is where Cuba comes in. A team went to Cuba in January. See their journals here. 

They didn't find the woodpecker either, but they still hope its out there.  You know, there are still some old forests in Arkansas. People there still believe it's alive. They even have pictures of it on some license plates! 

Remember: "Some think it's cool, but I think it's cruel" 

Note: 
Photo By James St. John [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Meet the Bandit of the Prairie

There is only one animal in North America that can be called the "Bandit of the Prairie."Meet the Black-Footed Ferret.

The Black-Footed Ferret is one of the most endangered mammals in North America, but that was not always true. In the 1800s, they were pretty common on the prairie, but that was before people started plowing up the prairie to make homes, farms, and towns.  

Losing their habitat to people was one reason they started disappearing. The other reason has to do with prairie dogs. Black-footed ferrets are predators of prairie dogs. Prairie dogs are their food supply. Farmers started killing prairie dogs, and the food was hard to find. By 1986, there were no black-footed ferrets left in the wild, and only 18 alive in zoos. But people cared, and now there are over 600. Here are some things you might not know about the black-footed ferret.

• They are a member of the weasel family.
• Their black mask keeps the glare of the sun from hurting their eyes.
• They can twist and turn through any tunnel.
• They spend most of the time underground.
• They make prairie dog tunnels their homes.
• They hunt at night.
• They like to be alone.
• Females have one to six babies in May or June.
• Their babies are called Kits.
• Kits are born blind, and stay in the tunnel for two months.
• Kits can be on their own before winter.

Animal Girl says, "Some think this is cool, but I think it's cruel!"

Hey! I am still not allowed to have my own blog until I am 13, but I now have an email. You can send me mail at  

animalgirlsnature@gmail.com

For more information, check these web sites.

World Wildlife Fund

US Fish and Wildlife Service

Meet the Spotted Chirper

What chirps, hangs out in trees, lives in Africa, is the fastest land animal on earth, and is Africa's most endangered big cat? The spotted chirper is . . .the African Cheetah!

You would think a big cat like the cheetah would roar like a lion, right? But the cheetah actually makes chirping sounds like a bird. Sure it can growl, hiss, and purr like all big cats, but it keeps in contact with other cheetahs by chirping. Here are some facts you may not know:

• The cheetah's long legs and slender body makes them built for speed.
• Cheetahs can run up to 70 mph, but only for about half of a minute because that speed takes a lot of energy.
• Their long tail helps their balance.
• They have black lines that look like tears that run from the corner of their eyes to their mouth. These black lines keep the sun's glare away, and help the cheetah sight on their prey.
• They hunt during the day because they don't see very good at night.

Like so many other animals, cheetahs are endangered because of loss of habitat, hunted for their fur, and killed to protect livestock. One hundred years ago, there were 100,000 cheetahs in Africa. Now there are less than 10,000.To find out how you can help save the cheetah from disappearing, check out Cheetah-Namibia Wildlife Conservation.

Animals are here to share our world with us. Wouldn't life be boring without them? 

Here's what I, Animal Girl, think about our disappearing animals.

"Some think it's cool, but I think it's cruel."

Who Doesn't Love Seals?

Isn't this one of the most beautiful animals you have ever seen? Look at it's slim, athletic body, those perfect flippers, and that cute little face buried in the sand. Makes you want to reach out and touch it, doesn't it? But hold on! No touching. This is one of the most endangered mammals in the U.S. So what kind of seal is it?

Meet the Hawaiian Monk Seal

The Hawaiian Monk Seal swims, eats, and rests in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. It's name is "llio holo l ka uana" in Hawaiian. That means "dog that runs in rough water." Of course, it's not a dog, but it's playful, barks, and can bite to protect itself just like a dog.  Here are a few facts about the Monk Seal.

• It can live for 25 to 30 years
• It grow up to 7 feet long and can weigh 500 to 600 pounds.
• It eat fish, spiny lobster, eels, and octopus
•  It can dive down to 1,000 feet
• It biggest predators are Tiger and Galapagos sharks 
• Adults hunt at night, and juveniles hunt during the day

It's numbers are decreasing every year, and there are only about 1,200 left in the wild. They are victims of over-hunting, bi-catch, and habitat loss. They are no longer hunted, but they get caught in fishing nets just like dolphins and other sea animals. Their habitat is disappearing because Hawaii has more people, and that means more of the beaches are becoming people beaches not seal beaches. The Monk seal likes to rest in the sun on long sandy beaches, or hide in the brush on the shoreline when a big storm hits. If the beaches are all occupied by people, there is no room left for the Monk seals to rest, play in the surf, or to find a quiet place to have their babies. 

Remember--"Some think it's cool, but I think it's cruel" to see animals disappear.

Here are three books I like on the Hawaiian Monk Seal. They are on Amazon. Here's a secret--The Story of Hina is my favorite. I even have an autographed copy!

The Story of Hina

The Odyssey of KP2

Ching: The Hawaiian Monk Seal

For more information on the Monk Seal, please check out these sites.


Ke Kai Ola Marine Mammal Center

NOAA Fisheries 5 year plan to save the Monk Seal

ANOTHER CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ANIMAL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT!

Hello fellow animal lovers! I guess I have missed a few weeks of posting. All I can say is school kind of got in the way. Then, of course, I had a small family vacation. You know, a kid has to go where a parent goes. But I am BACK! And, I have an amazing animal to share with you. Here are a few hints:

• It's red
• It howls
• It is critically endangered
• It lives in swamps, forests, and wetlands
• It eats small mammals like rabbits, mice, and rats
• And, it was hunted to extinction in the wild in 1980

GIVE UP?

Meet the Red Wolf!

The red wolf is smaller than his cousin, the gray wolf. He lives in the southeastern part of the United States. In 1980, the red wolf was declared EXTINCT in the wild. But, thanks to a special captive breeding program, they were brought back into the wild. In 2010, there were 130 red wolves in the wild, and I hope the number keeps growing.

So why did they go extinct? They were hunted and trapped because people thought they were a threat to livestock. They also lost their habitat when trees were cut down for homes and agriculture. 

You can help the red wolf by learning more about them, and spreading the word so that we save them before they disappear. To find out more about how you can help them, please check out the following web pages.

Red Wolf Center

Wild Life Conservation Center

Some think this is cool, but I think it's cruel.

 

Central East Africa's Black Rhino is Disappearing

Photo by Craig Newton/FreeImages.com

There is one animal that lives in Central East Africa that that looks like its mother was a unicorn and its father was an elephant. Do you know what it is? It's the Black Rhino.

The Black rhinoceros is a mammal, and it's not really black. It is a dark gray or brown. But it is big! An adult can weigh over 3,000 pounds. They also have poor eyesight. They can't see very far, but they have great hearing and sense of smell.

Black Rhinos are browsers. They eat all kinds of plants, and are usually seen with their heads down close to the ground so their pointed lips can pull in their food. The sun is very hot where they live, so they eat at night or in the early morning. When it's hot, they lay in the shade or find a mud hole to stay cool. They also have two horns. One is large and one is small. It is the large one that has made them critically endangered.

Photo by Kym Parry/FreeImages.com

Poachers kill rhinos to cut off their large horn and sell it. People believe it can be used in medicine and all types of things. They even use the horn as a handle on a knife.  For more information see Save The Rhino.

Some think this is cool, but I think it's cruel!

This is a Mysterious Cat That is Endangered

Deep on the southern tip of Florida lives an amazing cat. 

It has rotating ears that gives it great hearing, fantastic night vision which is key to survival, retractable claws, and hind legs that lets them jump 15 feet into the air. Want to know which animal this is? It is the Florida Panther, and there only about 100 of them left in the wild.

The Florida Panther makes its home in the Cypress Swamps. They hunt for raccoon, opossum, white-tail deer, wild pigs, wild turkeys, and sometimes even baby alligators. Mother panthers keep their cubs in dens, and are very protective. Male panthers, alligators, and even hunters are dangerous to panther cubs.

Like other endangered animals, the Florida Panther is losing its home. Agriculture and development are taking land that once belonged to the animals that lived there. The Florida Panther needs room to roam. One panther's territory can be the size of 1,000 football fields, and they don't like sharing it with other panthers. For more information, check out Defenders of Wildlife website or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's new book, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, available at Amazon.

Let's not lose another amazing animal in this world. The Florida Panther needs to be protected so it will not disappear.

"Some think it's cool, but I think it's cruel." Animalgirl

Meet One of the World's Rarest Animals

This is the Amur Leopard

The rarest big cat in the world is the amazing wild Amur Leopard. There are only 50 to 60 adults left southeastern Russia and parts of China.

This big cat lives in an area where there are very hot summers and very cold winters. You might think an animal with fur would not survive in hot summers. The Amur Leopard is different than other big cats. It's fur is short in the summer and grows long in the winter. And walking in the snow isn't hard for this leopard because it's legs are longer than all the other leopards. 

At one time, hundreds of this wild leopard lived in Amur and shared it's habitat with the Amur Tiger. Now, there are so few of them, they are rarely seen in the wild. They are disappearing because hunters kill them for their fur and their bones. Their bones are used for some Chinese medicines, and their soft fur is used to make coats and rugs and furniture. And their food is disappearing. The animals they hunt like musk deer are hard to find, so they hunt the sheep and cattle raised by farmers. This causes farmers to kill them. This is how extinction starts. An animal's food disappears when people move in. The animal hunts the people's livestock. And the farmers kills the animals.

You can help save this beautiful leopard by learning more about them. To see how you can help check out World Wildlife website, or visit Boris and Kia, two Amur Leopards, at the Oregon Zoo.

Saving this leopard is important. Every animal has something to offer the world and all of us. Losing it would mean kids like me would never be able to see a real live Amur Leopard.

"Some people think this is cool, but I think it's cruel" Animalgirl

Meet the critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle

 Saving the Hawksbill Turtle

Hi! This is Animalgirl again here to show you the Hawksbill turtle. I love these turtles. They need our help, so they won't disappear forever.

It is called a Hawksbill turtles because it's beak is like a hawk's. Do you know what else?

• Their favorite food is sponges, so eating the sponges helps protect the reef.
• Their shell is smooth and flat. It's streamlined so the water flows across their shell making it easier for them to swim.
• The front flippers power the swim and the back ones are short for steering.
• Like other turtles, Hawksbills need to come up for air.
• They are reef turtles because the reef feeds and shelters them from tiger sharks.
• The predator of the hawksbill is the Tiger shark. 
• To defend itself, the Hawksbill leans on its side so the shark bites its shell and not it. 

These amazing turtles are super endangered because fishermen catch them in their nets and the turtles drown when they can't get air to breathe. This is called bycatch. It is also because of their beautiful orange, green, brown, or yellow shells. People poach them to use their tortoise shells for jewelry and furniture. Their meat is also used for soup. 

Some people think this is cool, but I think it's cruel.

Worldwildlife.org

Sea Turtle Conservancy 

Note: All photos courtesy of Freeimages.com

Meet the Gentle Red Ape

This is the amazing and endangered orangutan. There are only about 30,000 left in the world.

The name orangutan means"forest person" because the native peoples thought they were people hiding in the trees to get out of doing their work. They live high in the trees on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutans have everything they need in the tree tops so they never have to come out of the trees. 

They are omnivores meaning they eat plants and insects. Bark, leaves, and bugs are part of their diet. But they also like a really stinky, fruit that looks like a spiky ball with bananas inside that is called durian.

Orangutans are disappearing because loggers are chopping down the forest trees where they live. This is called deforestation. They are also disappearing because mothers are killed so poachers can steal the babies and sell them for a lot of money as part of the pet trade. When they get too big, though, they are usually killed or abandoned. 

Some people think this is cool, but I think it's cruel!

For more information on how can you help, check out these websites.

Rainforest Foundation

Orangutan Conservancy