Blogging Reflection

What I've done:
          Since I have begun blogging I have really enjoyed doing them. It is very fun to me to do research on these different species and I hope to continue to show others what animals are losing their population, and how some are being poached everyday. Writing these blog posts have opened my eyes as well to how it is so interesting to blog. I hope to continue to learn about these species, just as much as my readers have.

My best post and why its good:
          My best post by far I think has been my post "Elephants". This post I believe shows my best writing style and how I explain about the animal and their life, how they help the planet, also how poaching has impacted them, and how we can help to increase populations of them or to help their herds be safer in their countries.

What I'd like to improve on:
          For this upcoming year I hope to improve on how often and possibly more posts, but make them shorter. For my newest blogs I hope to try to reach out more to my readers to comment and share what they would like to see a post of, or share what the think of the post, and what they believe I should change or keep going with.

What I've learned about myself as a learner: 
         This year I have had such a great time blogging and so grateful for all of those who do look at my posts. This year I have learned about myself that I should really start to try and project and find a new species or animal to talk about, a little earlier than just the few days before, but like a week before its actually due.

Where I'd like to go: 
          With this blog it has opened up my eyes to new things. I also saw that I really like blogging, it can occupy me to newer things, and other thoughts on maybe some of my same topics. I really hope that next year I can learn just as much has I did this year, and more. I would also like to start another blog, either after school is out or soon when my time can be put more into my blogging.

Jaguar

A near threatened animal living in South America. These large cats are very beautiful and large, up to 300 pounds. They can reach up to 6 feet in length (which is a bit shorter than me!). Due to the forests and grass lands being torn down human population growth and the need for expansion of city growth and much of their homes gone the life of the jaguar is threatened. Also due to their beautiful coat they are wanted. Jaguars love the tropical forests and they need enough water and tropical forest for them to roam, but their forests and the amazon is decreasing due to human population. Researchers are watching their moves to see how they live and we are trying to talk to Brazil but it is hard to help these animals because they aren't in america. To help donate money to save not only these beautiful cats, but also the wildlife and the amazons to help repopulate the areas with growth. Donate here:  http://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gift-center/gifts/Species-Adoptions/Jaguar.aspx?sc=AWY1302WC900

Whales

Whales are so large, they weigh up to 200 tons, or 33 elephants. They are alike to us in a few ways, one being that they are mammals like us and they can nurse their young. Although you might think they have gills and don't breathe oxygen, but they do, just as we do. But they don't eat the same as we do because they have this thing called baleen, or the bristle like teeth they have to eat food. Baleen acts as a strainer to keep the food they caught in their mouth, but letting out the water. Only the Beluga and Sperm whales do in fact have teeth. Many might say that the whale is in no way able to be endangered, but although they are at the top of the food chain, many are being poached and the environment they are in is unhealthy. There are 13 great whale species and 7 are endangered. Some of the threats would be oil and gas development, commercial whaling, and climate change. Oil and gas development is causing whales to have a loss of hearing because of the loud construction and movement. Also it is disturbing their breeding grounds, migratory paths, and feeding areas. More than 1000 whales are killed a year due to many people in the north, like New Zealand, selling them in their markets. Due to the warming seas and loss of the sea ice in the north, it is taking a toll on the whales lives and internal structure, especially to the North Atlantic whale in the north and they aren't reproducing as well. To "adopt" or help raise money for conservation pleas click the link below: http://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gift-center/gifts/Species-Adoptions/Blue-Whale.aspx?sc=AWY1302WC922

Giant Pandas

Giant Pandas really are giant coming in at 230 pounds fro a 4 ft high panda. They are such beautiful creatures that are being poached for there soft fur. Much of china has a large conservation for them which is good but it isn't enough. In 2004 there were only 1600 in the wild. Pandas love to be in the forests and be free out there climbing trees and doing what they love, which is eating. Pandas can eat 26-34 pounds of food a day of bamboo. They are crucial to our environment, when they eat plants and walk around with them, it causes fertilization and to move the seeds around. Many forests are being cut down due to industrialization in china, but with the help of a donation to WWF they can help those pandas, to put them in a sanctuary or find them a perfect caring zoo where they can be taken care of. Donate here : https://support.worldwildlife.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=main_monthly_2013&s_src=AWG1401SS912

Sea Turtles

Sea turtles live in open water and the coasts. There are 7 species of Sea Turtles in the world. Sea Turtles are very important for our oceans ecosystems. Sea turtles travel back to where they were born to travel back and lay their eggs. Most of the sea turtles are endangered, but 2 are critically endangered; the Hawksbill and the Leatherback. Sea Turtles are a huge impact on our ocean marine life and water ecosystems.           The Hawksbill (shown above) is a beautiful endangered creature. Living in mostly tropical or warmer waters, help maintain the ecosystems or the coral reefs and the sea grass. They are named Hawksbill because of their pointed tip on their beak. They eat mostly sponges, sea anemone and sometimes jellyfish.  Because of their beautiful shells they are killed and their shells are sold to tourists. Some things that are being done to help is by using more of a circle shaped hook rather than a J shaped hook. Another thing is satellite tracking so we can view their patterns and try to help them or protect those areas of poachers.
      Leatherback turtles are one of the largest turtle species weighing in at between 600 - 1500 pounds. They are named Leatherback because of their shell which isn't like other shells because its leather. They travel all the way tot the California coasts in summer and fall from their nesting areas to feed on jellyfish. Because of people taking their eggs much of their population has been reduced. They produce a tourist attraction and the shells are sold because they are so big and they are popular for tourists to buy on vacation.
       You can help to buy sending in something or purchasing a product from this site, which is one of the worlds largest animal foundation fundraisers for animals who are endangered or vulnerable. Thanks for reading. New blogs every Monday night.    Donate Here:  https://support.worldwildlife.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=monthly_donation&s_src=AWG1200SS912

Rhinos

Rhinos are beautiful, large creatures who have done no wrong to us, but some choose to get there horns for money. Many people like myself were unaware of how our rhinos were so endangered and threatened. Rhinos everyday are being poached, at a rate of about 2 per day. Rhinos are specifically picked for their horns. In some Asian cultures, some believe that when chewing on the Rhinoceros horn it can be good for healing certain things, but that is like saying that chewing our fingernails is beneficial for our heath some how. Knowing that rhinos are just being killed for just there horns is so sad, why would someone want to take a animal life just for one piece. Rhinos are one of the oldest mammals today, dating back to the 15 million years ago, before the woolly mammoth. In 2012 668 rhinos were slaughtered, at about a 5000% increase since 2011 There are two main Rhino breeds most known around, the white and the black rhino. The white rhino is more common in southern Africa. There are about 20,170 white rhinos in our world today. Much of the people who hunt the white rhino is because they are normally found in herds and are less aggressive than other breeds of rhino.     The black rhino is a critically endangered animal, being at a population of only about 4,848 rhinos in the world.  They are found around coastal east Africa. Another factor to its decreasing population is that its habitats are being destroyed by these poachers and other hunters. Rhinos of this breed can have three horns which makes them valuable to hunters and poachers wanting to make big bucks. Rhinos today have gone up in the market. There is much that you can do, donate, making people aware of this problem, and donate tot help there conservation and habitat loss. One large corporation and wildlife fund that is popular is WWF. Here is the link to there donations page :  https://support.worldwildlife.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=main_onetime_2013&s_src=AWE1401GD914

Tigers

Tigers are an endangered species, with almost less than 3,200 in the world today. Besides in zoos around the world most tigers are found in Amur-Heilong, the Eastern Himalayas, Greater Mekong, Borneo and Sumatra. There are six types of tigers; Sumatran, Amur, Bengal, Indochinese, South China, and the Malayan. With these I am only going to talk about the two critically endangered ones, the Sumatran, and the South China tiger. All tigers are being taken out of there homes in the wild and skinned, and many people are not just killing the tigers but by cutting down their forests where they live. The south China tiger had about 30-80 in 1996, but now they are technically extinct in China completely. Although China banned all tiger hunting many people in the 70's believed that the tiger was a pest. Now the plan for this animals since all are in zoos in Africa and some in southern China, they plan to have a land set up to reintroduce the captive tigers to be placed into the wild. There are about less than 400 in the wild today. In Sumatra, it is the only place where tigers, rhinos, orangutans and elephants living together in the presence of the Sumatran tiger, which creates a presence of biodiversity in the forest. Much of our help is to rehabilitate the ones we have in captivity and slowly introduce them to being back into the wild. Humans are also setting up cameras in the wild to capture their life in the wild. Also the most important is to grow their own forest, which the government is trying to establish. What you can do is donate so we can all help rebuild our forests. The link is below. Thanks for reading!  https://support.worldwildlife.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=donate_to_charity&s_src=AWE1302GD914

Elephants

Elephants are one of the largest mammals on earth. They are very beautiful large animals, that live in different parts of the world. Most elephants live in Central Africa and Asia. Much of our elephants are being threatened daily by people and by there own habitat. Elephants are 4-6 tons in weight, which means hundreds of pounds of food a day that they eat in calories to survive. Much of today we industrialize a lot of places, so that means habitat loss for elephants and other animals. Since elephants eat so much food a day habitat loss is very bad. There are two types of elephants; African and Asian. African Elephants are different than the Asian elephants in several different ways. African elephants ears are fan shaped ears while the Asian ones have a pointed tip at the bottom. Another interesting thing is that the African elephants are much larger in size than the Asian ones, which are smaller. African elephants (shown above) live in grasslands and forests. African elephants help in forests and other grasslands with helping with germination and seed dispersal around. In the 1980's it was said that 100,000 elephants were killed a year. Because of human settlement and development much of the lands in southern Africa are being dwindled down,which means less food and population growth for the elephants. The elephant ranges have shrunken from three million acres of land to just one million. some of these African elephants live in forests and people are tree logging which is cutting down the trees in their habitat, and also destroys plant life that needs the trees and plants for their own survival. They aren't yet extinct, but vulnerable, because of the increase in need for ivory. Asian elephants (shown above) are mostly in southern Asia, and the Himalayas. The Asian elephants are an endangered species. These elephants live in forests, and feed on grasses, tree bark, roots, and need to be near a source of water, because they need to at least drink once a day. Ivory trade was banned, but there are still many secret trade groups and illegal trade. Since only male Asian elephants have tusks, they are afraid that the males will become extinct, and there will be no way for reproduction of the Asian species. To help these elephants last too, not just by stopping the poachers, but helping regrow our forest population too.
        Helping these elephants can be by donating, making others aware, and take action, make a club, group or social network page. You can donate in the link below to send money or purchase a product, where the people then use the money to help protect the animals habitat, secure the forests, and reduce human-animal conflict or interaction.   https://support.worldwildlife.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=main_onetime_2013&s_src=AWE1401GD914

Polar Bears

There are about 20,000 - 25,000 in the world Arctic polar regions. Polar bears eat mostly dead animals that are on the shores, which consist of mostly seals, since the polar bears need a lot of fat tot survive in the cold north pole. There are 19 subsections of polar bears in the north, I see them as little towns or areas some stay in. polar bears are vulnerable because of there slowly melting homes. Black carbon is said to be causing the ice to melt down to the lowest its been this year alone. Last year there was a lot of weather changes that went from warmer to colder in short amount of time causing the ice to melt and act funky. Most of the polar bears in zoos we have we breed them and set most free to the wild in special sanctuary. We also place trackers in polar bears we find s owe know how they travel, when, and with what other bears we have tracked to help raise the ones we are going to release. Polar bears are constantly eating the biology life there which is good for the environment to contain the different species and how out of control they get, without polar bears there could many more fish then there are. Most of what us as a community can do is raise awareness and tell others so we can help the arctic one step at a time. 

Animal Poaching 101

Animal poaching is done all over the world, all the time. Some people may not know but your shoes or your bag could be made out of an animal that is being killed just for that one small item. I chose to study this topic because I didn't really know how much our animals are dying or losing population to something like this. I think the readers of my blog will be the ones who want to see how and why hunters are killing that one specific animal for that one little item off them. My purpose or plan for this blog is to show how our our daily items we use is from that animal that is now going extinct from years of this killing. My posts will be different animals that are being poached, what we can do or help, and what this animal is doing for us? (ie bags, purses, belts, shoes)