Endangered animals are animals that are under threat from habitat destruction or environment destruction. Some animals are also hunted for their ivory, skin or bones.

Black rhinos are constantly hunted for their ivory. Even in national parks, the rangers are constantly keeping an eye on the amount of black rhinos and looking out for people that could be poachers.

The WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) have put endangered animals into categories. These are:  Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened and Least Concern (WWF). Here are some examples of each:

• Critically Endangered: Black Rhino, South China Tiger, and Mountain Gorilla.
• Endangered: Asian Elephant, Chimpanzee, Blue Whale, and Giant Panda.
• Vulnerable: African Elephant, Great White Shark, Polar Bear, and Hippopotamus.
• Near Threatened: White Rhino, Jaguar, and Yellow Fin Tuna.
• Least Concern: Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Gorilla, Sloth.

These are only some of each category.

Here are some ways you can help the environment and the endangered animals:

Use less water

Using less hot water can help protect the environment as you will be using less energy. Using cold or warm water will wash your clothes just as well!

Turn off your lights!

Most of the energy from light bulbs is given off as heat, not light! Some light bulbs are four times more efficient than others so you should try to get these.

Recycle

You can recycle many things such as: paper, coloured paper, some food packaging, catalogues and lots more! You can’t recycle all papers though. Wrapping paper cannot be recycled so try to cut down on it over Christmas and find more friendly alternatives!

I have been to see some of these animals in the wild and I think it’s really important to keep them safe any way that we can.

By Lucy, age 12.