Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Penguins

Animals that live in the coldest parts of the world depend on ice for protection and a home. With the temperatures warming it is making the penguins more vulnerable and much easier for prey to get because the ice is getting thinner. You also have to think that penguins need to cross the ice to get to the breeding grounds and thats not easy if they are falling into the water and getting eaten.

What you probably don't know is that penguins have to worry about sunburns. They live in places where are reasonably cool. They have to hide there feet so they don't get burnt and for baby penguins it is even more dangerous. When baby penguins are born they don't have any feathers so there skin is more vulnerable from the sun rays. The penguins are then forced to go into the water to cool off making it very easy for predators to get them. 




https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLeU5PRDUnAULeYWP0bpkjNzly1waEVM73TuwsWknnWhfZtRT6x6tb2gTdwOF0_wt8KgXB_Kd0wGCyrq_BQstExFHOdxHmuROL_Uz2NZ8eeQPqHiZSro_Egaz57_a_vGHcsafKaCuA7wc/s1600/march_of_the_penguins_300.jpg 

http://www.penguins-world.com/penguins-and-global-warming.html 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Snow Leopards Being Threatened

Snow Leopards live and prefer a habitat that is snowy, has steep cliff areas, ravines, and rocky outcrops. 60  percent of them are found mainly in China. They also range from Afghanistan to Kazakhstan and Russia in the north to India and China in the east. They are up in the mountains between 9,800 to 17,000 feet up and stay in snowy areas to make it easier to hunt because there coat is white/gray that it makes great camouflage. 

They prey mainly on wild goat, sheep, and sometimes small rodents, hares, and game birds. So as the world is being affected by global warming it is causing the snow to melt more and more and forcing the Snow Leopards to move up the mountain to be protected and survive with the snow. The further they travel up the mountain the vegetation becomes more scarce, which means the herbivores are in limited supply making finding food more difficult. 

They are only an estimation of 3,500 to 7,000 Snow Leopards left in the wild. No one really knows the exact amount because of there shy nature. We do know that there are only 600 to 700 Snow Leopards in zoos around the world. What we are doing is calling these animals and now they are on the list of "threatened". 


http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/snow_leopard.php