lets save the wolf pack!

Gray wolves once populated large portions of North America, Europe, and Asia, but were hunted to near extinction. Their numbers have rebounded due to conservation and reintroduction efforts.

Wolves are legendary because of their spine-tingling howl, which they use to communicate. A lone wolf howls to attract the attention of his pack, while communal howls may send territorial messages from one pack to another. Some howls are confrontational. Much like barking domestic dogs, wolves may simply begin howling because a nearby wolf has already begun.

Wolves are the largest members of the dog family. Adaptable gray wolves are by far the most common and were once found all over the Northern Hemisphere. But wolves and humans have a long adversarial history. Though they almost never attack humans, wolves are considered one of the animal world's most fearsome natural villains. They do attack domestic animals, and countless wolves have been shot, trapped, and poisoned because of this tendency.

In the lower 48 states, gray wolves were hunted to near extinction, though some populations survived and others have since been reintroduced. Few gray wolves survive in Europe, though many live in Alaska, Canada, and Asia.

Red wolves live in the southeastern United States, where they are endangered. These animals actually became extinct in the wild in 1980. Scientists established a breeding program with a small number of captive red wolves and have reintroduced the animal to North Carolina. Today, perhaps 100 red wolves survive in the wild.

The maned wolf, a distant relative of the more familiar gray and red wolves, lives in South America. Physically, this animal resembles a large, red fox more than its wolf relatives.

Wolves live and hunt in packs of around six to ten animals. They are known to roam large distances, perhaps 12 miles (20 kilometers) in a single day. These social animals cooperate on their preferred prey—large animals such as deer, elk, and moose. When they are successful, wolves do not eat in moderation. A single animal can consume 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of meat at a sitting. Wolves also eat smaller mammals, birds, fish, lizards, snakes, and fruit.

Wolfpacks are established according to a strict hierarchy, with a dominant male at the top and his mate not far behind. Usually this male and female are the only animals of the pack to breed. All of a pack's adults help to care for young pups by bringing them food and watching them while others hunt.

Fast Facts

Type:

Mammal

Diet:

Carnivore

Average life span in the wild:

6 to 8 years

Size:

Head and body, 36 to 63 in (91 to 160 cm); Tail, 13 to 20 in (33 to 51 cm)

Weight:

40 to 175 lbs (18 to 79 kg)

Group name:

Pack

Protection status:

Endangered

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

The place we call Mother Earth!

"mother earth"

• Earth is the third planet from the sun and is the largest of the inner planets in the solar system in both diameter and mass. The only planet in the Universe on which life is known to exist, Earth is home to millions of species, including at least one sentient life form, Homo sapient sapient.

  At the center of the Earth is a solid iron core, surrounded by magnetic liquid and a thick layer of mantle.

• An Abundance of Liquid Water

  About 71% of Earth's surface is covered in liquid water, mostly in the form of oceans. These seas not only help drive the atmosphere, they lubricate the crust of the planet, enabling the motion of tectonic plates. The movement of the plates constantly recycles the mineral and biological material available on the planet and in turn, shapes climate and makes ecosystems possible.

• Guardian Moon

  Earth has one natural satellite, the moon, also known as Luna. This large satellite is believed to have been created from accreted orbital ejecta from the collision with Earth of a small planetoids early in the history of the solar system. The moon's gravity has attracted asteroids, comets, and meteors to its surface than may have otherwise struck Earth.

save the mountain lions!

This powerful predator roams the Americas, where it is also known as a puma, cougar, and catamount. This big cat of many names is also found in many habitats, from Florida swamps to Canadian forests.

Mountain lions like to prey on deer, though they also eat smaller animals such as coyotes, porcupines, and raccoons. They usually hunt at night or during the gloaming hours of dawn and dusk. These cats employ a blend of stealth and power, stalking their prey until an opportunity arrives to pounce, then going for the back of the neck with a fatal bite. They will hide large carcasses and feed on them for several days.

Mountain lions once roamed nearly all of the United States. They were prized by hunters and despised by farmers and ranchers who suffered livestock losses at their hands. Subsequently, by the dawn of the 20th century, mountain lions were eliminated from nearly all of their range in the Midwest and Eastern U.S.—though the endangered Florida panther survives.

Today, whitetail deer populations have rebounded over much of the mountain lion's former range and a few animals have appeared in more eastern states such as Missouri and Arkansas. Some biologists believe that these big cats could eventually recolonize much of their Midwest and Eastern range—if humans allow them to do so. In most western U.S. states and Canadian provinces, populations are considered sustainable enough to allow managed sport hunting.

Mountain lions require a lot of room—only a few cats can survive in a 30-square-mile (78-square-kilometer) range. They are solitary and shy animals, seldom seen by humans. While they do occasionally attack people—usually children or solitary adults—statistics show that, on average, there are only four attacks and one human fatality each year in all of the U.S. and Canada.

Fast Facts

Type:

Mammal

Diet:

Carnivore

Size:

Head and body, 3.25 to 5.25 ft (1 to 1.6 m); Tail, 23.5 to 33.5 in (60 to 85 cm)

Weight:

136 lbs (62 kg)

Protection status:

Endangered

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m)

save the mountain snow leopards!

Native to the Central Asian mountains, the snow leopard is a rare sight, with only about 6,000 left in the wild. They are hunted for their beautiful, warm fur and for their organs, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

These rare, beautiful gray leopards live in the mountains of Central Asia. They are insulated by thick hair, and their wide, fur-covered feet act as natural snowshoes. Snow leopards have powerful legs and are tremendous leapers, able to jump as far as 50 feet (15 meters). They use their long tails for balance and as blankets to cover sensitive body parts against the severe mountain chill.

Snow leopards prey upon the blue sheep (bharal) of Tibet and the Himalaya, as well as the mountain ibex found over most of the rest of their range. Though these powerful predators can kill animals three times their weight, they also eat smaller fare, such as marmots, hares, and game birds.

One Indian snow leopard, protected and observed in a national park, is reported to have consumed five blue sheep, nine Tibetan woolly hares, twenty-five marmots, five domestic goats, one domestic sheep, and fifteen birds in a single year.

As these numbers indicate, snow leopards sometimes have a taste for domestic animals, which has led to killings of the big cats by herders.

These endangered cats appear to be in dramatic decline because of such killings, and due to poaching driven by illegal trades in pelts and in body parts used for traditional Chinese medicine. Vanishing habitat and the decline of the cats' large mammal prey are also contributing factors

Fast Fact

Type:

Mammal

Diet:

Carnivore

Size:

4 to 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5 m); Tail, 36 in (91 cm)

Weight:

60 to 120 lbs (27 to 54 kg)

Protection status:

Endangered

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m)

lets save the lion kingdom!

Nearly all wild lions live in sub-Saharan Africa, but one small population of Asian lions exists in India's Gir Forest. Asian lions and African lions are subspecies of the same species.

Asian lions once prowled from the Middle East to India. Now, only 200 to 260 of these magnificent animals survive in the wild. The Gir Forest's dry teak woods were once a royal hunting ground. Today they are a reserve where the endangered Asian lions are heavily protected. An additional 200 Asian lions live in zoos.

Lions are the only cats that live in groups, called prides. Prides are family units that may include up to three males, a dozen or so females, and their young. All of a pride's lionesses are related and female cubs typically stay with the group as they age. Young males eventually leave and may establish their own prides by taking over a group headed by another male.

Only male lions boast manes, the impressive fringe of long hair that encircles their heads. Males defend the pride's territory. They mark the area with urine, roar menacingly to warn intruders, and chase off animals that encroach on their turf.

Female lions are the pride's primary hunters. They often work together to prey upon large mammals.

After the hunt, the group effort often degenerates to squabbling over the sharing of the kill, with cubs at the bottom of the pecking order. Young lions do not help the pride hunt until they are about a year old. Lions will hunt alone if the opportunity presents itself, and they also steal kills from hyenas or wild dogs

Fast Facts

Type:

Mammal

Diet:

Carnivore

Average life span in the wild:

16 to 18 years

Weight:

300 to 500 lbs (120 to 226 kg)

Group name:

Pride

Protection status:

Endangered

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

lets save the Cheetah's

The cheetah is the world's fastest land mammal. With acceleration that would leave most automobiles in the dust, a cheetah can go from 0 to 60 miles (96 kilometers) an hour in only three seconds. These big cats are quite nimble at high speed and can make quick and sudden turns in pursuit of prey.

Before unleashing their speed, cheetahs use exceptionally keen eyesight to scan their grassland environment for signs of prey—especially antelope and hares. This big cat is a daylight hunter that benefits from stealthy movement and a distinctive spotted coat that allows it to blend easily into high, dry grasses.

When the moment is right a cheetah will sprint after its quarry and attempt to knock it down. Such chases cost the hunter a tremendous amount of energy and are usually over in less than a minute. If successful, the cheetah will often drag its kill to a shady hiding place to protect it from opportunistic animals that sometimes steal a kill before the cheetah can eat. Cheetahs need only drink once every three to four days.

Female cheetahs typically have a litter of three cubs and live with them for one and a half to two years. Young cubs spend their first year learning from their mother and practicing hunting techniques with playful games. Male cheetahs live alone or in small groups, often with their littermates.

Most wild cheetahs are found in eastern and southwestern Africa. Perhaps only 12,000 of these big cats remain, and those are under pressure as the wide-open grasslands they favor are disappearing at the hands of human settlers.

Fast Facts

Type:

Mammal

Diet:

Carnivore

Average life span in the wild:

10 to 12 years

Size:

3.5 to 4.5 ft (1.1 to 1.4 m);

Tail, 25.5 to 31.5 in (65 to 80 cm)

Weight:

77 to 143 lbs (35 to 65 kg)

Protection status:

Vulnerable

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m)

The Endangered Siberian Tiger

the most Beautiful creature that god put on this earth!

they have a reason to be here just like we do? there’s a balance in every thing and we must keep that balance focus on every thing if we don’t keep in order we may lose the balance in one thing that we may never get to see again! and just how long we gonna watch them to be on the Endanger list and watch them disappear forever?

“yea they may be Dangerous animal but u know something if u look around anything can be Dangerous” they have to kill to eat to survive! just like we eat and need to survive.. we both drank water and breath the same air and almost eat the same thing… “Deer” even thou they eat anything that’s has 4 legs but big creature and beautiful and powerful and strong “someday i hope we can save them from endanger list and the rest of the big cats”

In The Shadow Of The Siberian Tiger Of the eight original subspecies of tigers, three have become extinct in the last 60 years, an average of one every 20 years. The Bali tiger became extinct in the 1930′s. The Caspian tiger was forced into extinction in the 1970′s. And the Javan tiger followed in the 1980′s. And the journey towards extinction continues for the other subspecies. The number of tigers in the 1900′s –over 100,000 — dropped to 4,000 in the 1970′s. Today, they are a critically endangered species with the total of all the wild populations of the five remaining subspecies (Bengal, Indo-Chinese, Siberian, South China, and Sumatran) is an estimated 4,600 and 7,700 tigers. It is known that all remaining tigers live in small, isolated populations in widely scattered reserves. The largest concentration of tigers in one reserve is about 250. Today wild tigers exist in Eastern Russia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) , North Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Bhutan, India and Nepal. so how many more Tigers has to go on the Extinction list?