Survivors

Since the seventeenth century, over 90% of extinctions were caused by man. The main causes are overexploitation of environments, hunting, pollution and competition with alien species introduced in their environment by man.. Here follows a very short list of endangered species, which includes some of the most extraordinary creatures living on earth.

The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a fish belonging to the Lamniformes order, last representative of the Carcharodon genus. Hunting for commercial purposes and fishing of the species on which it feeds are the main threats to the survival of the largest living predatory fish. According to a recent estimate, there are still about 3500 specimens distributed in the oceans of world.

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest living felid, comparable in size to the ancient big felids. It is a formidable predator placed at the top of the food chain, but there are now only about 3000 specimens, mainly because of hunting.

The most endangered felid is probably the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), whose number of individuals is less than 100. It would be the first felid to become extinct since Smilodon populator about 10.000 years ago.

The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is a primate whose conservation status is classified by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as "critically endangered", the level preceding the extinction in the wild: a recent census estimated a population of about 800 individuals. Another endangered member of the Hominidae family is the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii); its population includes about 7000 specimens.

Many species of rhinoceros are considered critically endangered, too; their survival is threatened mainly by hunting. For example, there are only about 3600 black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), 275 Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and only few tens of Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus).

This list, unfortunately, could go on for pages and pages.