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Wildlife Preservation:
A World on the Brink of Extinction

Jordan Killin
Ms. Jeon
ENG 3U1
May 17, 2018
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Late Australian conservationist and zookeeper Steve Irwin once said that “If we can teach

people about wildlife, they will be touched”. Irwin’s job consisted of filming a television show

for National Geographic to show the lives of animals in their habitats and how to take action in

protection of species that are at the brink of extinction. Wildlife preservation is a very important

topic to learn about because many habitats have targets set on them by local contractors and

architectures in hopes of finding the best land to build a shopping or apartment complex. These

habitats are threatened by these new man-made structures worldwide. Modern age innovations

are getting larger to fit the needs of the growing populations in many countries, causing them to

be built up at rapid speeds to meet the deadlines assigned for the project. These new innovations

cause the destruction of land and the deforestation of natural forests that have been there for

generations. The act of preserving these habitats will end the suffering of animals and will ensure

earth to spin for generations on after many of us are gone. However, if this outrage continues

then humanity will struggle severely after the earth degrades in quality losing the ability that it

has today. The preservation of habitats will ensure the long term survival of wildlife and our

earth.

New man-made innovations being built around the world are seen through the eyes of

many people has the steps that are being taken towards a better world of tomorrow. This will

cause many issues in the future making the earth lose it naturistic values that we live off of on

our daily activities. Studies done throughout 2012 have described that when habitats are

destroyed, animals become lost and end up dying or being killed putting them on the ever

growing endangered list. With the destruction of land and the deforestation of thousand year old

trees, natural habitats and ecosystem’s face the threats and risks of their living conditions due to
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the so called superiority of the human species. This issue is an example compared to someone

being taken from their home due to their jobless state causing them to restart their lives from the

beginning. The sad reality of this issue would be if there was a new construction site in place for

a new theme park attraction taking up acres of the space occupied by animals. The animals living

on that land would have to find a new place to live to sustain their life on earth. An example

would be the destruction of a beaver dam, which causes a group of beavers to find a new place to

build their dam. We might think that these new architectural constructions seem very neat and

interesting but the problems that humanity will face later in life will be due to the end of earth’s

natural values.

There are many things in life that plants and animals provide to give us the important

things in life. In return, we give them nothing but destruction to their homes that they are trying

to sustain. If habitat destruction occurs more and more from now on then it will cause the loss of

many plants/trees and animals that are more important than the average person may think. Trees

and plants have importance all around the world by providing essential oxygen that both humans

and animals use in their lives. Many trees that are located within the tropical rainforests provide

certain medicinal ingredients that are used in the medicine we get from pharmacies. Two certain

ingredients that are found in the rainforests are Bolsom Poplar and Quinine. The Bolsom Poplar

ingredient can be used in medication that are used to heal cuts or wounds. The Quinine

ingredient can be used in medicine to aid malaria. Villagers living in close proximity to these

trees tend to harvest the ingredients from within and use it immediately to heal and wounds or

diseases very quickly. This is why many places near the Amazon rainforest don’t need

pharmacies because the villagers just climb the tree to gather the ingredient immediately using it

after. Rainforests are one of the most diverse ecosystem’s around the world that contain more
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than a hundred different species that fit together in a way to live their lives. If there is a bug

located within in a tree, and a frog decides to eat that bug, but then a tarantula eats that frog, the

tarantula would then be eaten by a very large snake. That is how each of the species within the

ecosystem’s fit together to form a circle of life. An estimated total of 50% of the earths

plant/tree, animal, and insect populations live within these rainforests. 70% of the plants in these

rainforests have been shown to contain ingredients that are found useful in cancer treatment.

Rainforests act as a home to these hundreds of species which is why if man-made structure’s

replace these forest then there will be a major change in the way the world goes on. Earth will

find itself on a larger scale of catastrophe if this issue keeps happening.

Although there are many people around the world who are doubtful of climate change,

the harsh reality is that it is happening very quickly from the pace it’s going at. Wildlife

preservation is one of the main factors that will help slow down the drastic changes in climate so

that the earth can return to the environmentally stable planet it was generations ago. A very

serious problem that is happening in Antarctica is that the effects of climate change are causing

the polar ice caps to melt from the increase in temperature. When these ice caps start to melt at

faster rates then there will be more problems with mass flooding and even the loss of animals.

The two main animals that would be heavily at risk if there is no ice for them to live on are the

penguin and the polar bear. They are both animals that are used to gathering their food while on

the ice but with the increased flooding’s happening, they become stranded in the water while

trying to find land to rest on. There are many pictures showing the difference in weight of the

Polar Bear because they are converting all of their energy to their legs so they can stay afloat

from drowning. Many are starting to die causing them to be placed on the endangered species

list. Earthquakes and other rough storms are another group of problems that are caused by
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climate change. This does not only cause a large loss of homes but a large loss of habitats and

animals. In 2017, President Donald Trump leaves the Paris accord which consist of countries

agreeing to cut down on gas emissions. He has also supported many companies with factories

that emit gases into the air causing the effect of climate change to be greater than it already is.

Around the world, there are many coral reefs containing large amounts of sea life varying

from large sharks to smaller fish. The problems coming from human made decisions are starting

to show more in many coral reefs. According to scientists, the earth has roughly lost half of its

coral reefs in the past 30 years due to the rising temperatures of the oceans. Once these coral

reefs are gone, marine life will rapidly start to die causing a food shortage to many human beings

worldwide. One food that is very healthy and important to the human species is fish. If there are

no more fish to eat due to these losses of coral reefs then the most enjoyed food that provide the

right nutrients for survival will be lost. Marine biologist Julia Baum said “This isn’t something

that’s going to happen 100 years from now. We’re losing them now”. The importance of coral

reefs are that they provide some of the oxygen that we breathe in on a daily basis. Scientist have

stated that if the world would stop global warming now, 90% of the corals will be gone by 2050

(Elena). Coral reefs contain many ecosystems and provide a means of giving humans the food

they need to stay healthy.

The preservation of habitats will ensure the long term survival of wildlife on our earth.

Wildlife Preservation provides a wide amount of benefits to the world while many other people

see this as just the protection of trees. Wildlife preservation will help keep earths naturistic

environments safe, can help slow the effects of climate change and global warming, and will

help solve the problems with the disappearances of coral reefs worldwide.. Although humanity

might think of these innovations as being the wonders of the future, the real future relies on
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everybody taking action or else the planet ill deteriorate causing global catastrophe and

extinction on a much larger scale than what is originally calculated.

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Works Cited

Becatoros, Elena. “More than 90 Percent of World's Coral Reefs Will Die by 2050.” The

Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 13 Mar. 2017.

Chianese, Robert L. "Rearranging the Planet to Save it." American Scientist, vol. 106, no. 1,

2018, pp. 24-27. eLibrary.

Hu, Aixue, et al. "Influence of Continental Ice Retreat on Future Global Climate." Journal of

Climate, vol. 26, no. 10, 2013, pp. 3087-3111. eLibrary,

Javna, John. "Rainforests Need Help to Survive Series: PROJECT EARTH." Austin American

Statesman, May 19, 1992, pp. D4. eLibrary,

John Christopher Fine Special to The Christian,Science Monitor. "Pollution Puts Coral Reefs Off

Florida's Coast in Peril; Agricultural Run-Off and Sewage Encourage Algae." The Christian

Science Monitor, Oct 03, 2002, pp. 12. eLibrary.

Liptak, Kevin, and Jim Acosta. “Trump on Paris Accord: 'We're Getting out'.” CNN, Cable

News Network, 2 June 2017.

Wilcove, David S., et al. "Quantifying Threats to Imperiled Species in the United States."

Bioscience, vol. 48, no. 8, 1998, pp. 607-615. eLibrary.

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