Endangered+Species Temperate+Deciduous+Forest

=Endangered Species:=

Canis Rufus (Red Wolf)
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**__Species Description and Habitat:__**
Red wolves are a distant cousin of the gray wolf. The communicate through scent marking, howling, and bodily gestures. Red wolves are nocturnal and they hunt alone or in small packs. The red wolf consumes small animals including rabbits, rodents, and raccoons. They also consume berries, insects and occasionally deer. The red wolf ranges from Pennsylvania to Florida and even into Texas. They roam the expanse of 1.7 million acres throughout northeastern North Carolina. Today, fewer than 45 red wolves currently live in the wild. J1

Red wolves are threatened by habitat loss due to human development. Severe weather, deaths by motor vehicles and illegal killings are large factors to the decline of the red wolf species. Severe weather includes that caused by climate change, including storm surges and sea level rises. The vehicle threat is also significant. J2 Hybridization between coyotes and red wolves also contributed to the decline of the red wolf species. Hybridization was not detected as a problem in north-eastern North Carolina until 1992. Right now the red wolf hybrid species is being introduced into the environment at 15%. This is 900% more than it can sustain which is 1.7%. At this rate the population of red wolves would disappear within 12 to 24 years. J3

J4

Red-Crowned Crane


 * __ Species Description and Habitat: __**

The red-crowned crane is also known as the Grus japonesis. They are native to East Asia, primarily eastern China, Japan, and Korea. In the world now they estimate that there are 2,500 cranes left in the world. 1,000 of which are located in Japan. Red-crowned Cranes are generalist feeders, eating a wide variety of insects, aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and rodents, as well as reeds, grasses, heath berries, corn and waste grain. In Hokkaido, they feed on human-provided corn, cereal grains and fish. ( J5)

__** Causes of Decline: **__

Some of the factors that led to the endangerment of the species were land shortages. The land is being used for urban development which means they have to cut down trees, deforestation, which takes out from the habitat. The crane's primary habitat is the forest, so without its main habitat the species will not be able to survive.( J6)

Pollution and contamination of the waters nearby affect the breeding grounds which means that more cranes cannot reproduce.The cranes are aquatic birds so they need marshes to reproduce. They prefer deeper waters with dead vegetation and as these are being taken over by agricultural expansion the cranes have nowhere to go. Many of the animals that the Crane eats are found in these contaminated areas. This also results in a loss of food for the species and without a surplus of food, it is very hard for the bird to keep on living.( J6)



(J7)

Giant Panda

The Giant Panda is another endangered species in this biome. It lives in China, and specifically in the remote and mountainous areas where bamboo is predominant. (J10). Pandas are not herbivores, however they have a strict diet of : leaves, stems, and shoots of various bamboo sticks. They must eat 12 to 38 kgs per day to maintain their energy levels. (J8) They occasionally do eat small rodents however that is not a primary source of energy. There are only 2,000 pandas left in the world and they have an average lifespan of 20 years. Depending on gender they can weight anywhere from 150 pounds to 220 pounds. An interesting fact about the panda is that it has lived on the earth from 2 to 3 million years.(J9)

__** Causes of Decline: **__

The main cause of the decline is deforestation of the bamboo trees. The Pandas have a huge reliance on Bamboo and not having bamboo creates a shortage of food which leads to a more deaths of Pandas due to a inadequate amount of food and nutrients. Pandas only give birth to one or two cubs at a time. Usually only one making it to adulthood, they only weight 4 to 8 ounces when they are born making it hard for survival at such a light weight because in order for something that delicate to survive it would have to have absolutely no obstacles, but we know that in the wild there are many such as another factor which is hunting. It is illegal to hunt for the bears however there are people who poach for the animal and often pandas are trapped in traps set out for other animals. There are reserves that are protecting the pandas however they are split by man made obstructions which prohibit the pandas from seeing each other, ultimately resulting in no reproduction of the species.(J11)

Other Endangered Species in Temperate Deciduous Forest:
 * European Mink
 * Gray Wolf

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