The third Friday in May is Endangered Species Day, an opportunity to have fun, find out about and take motion to guard threatened and endangered species. This Global Day of Action was created and based by David Robinson and the Endangered Species Coalition in 2006 and has continued to develop in scope and momentum since.
This 12 months additionally marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. This landmark piece of laws, signed into legislation within the U.S. in 1973, institutionalized the nation’s nationwide dedication to defending endangered crops and animals and their habitats.
How You Can Help Protect Endangered Animals
With the present biodiversity disaster—and an estimated a million species prone to extinction as a consequence of habitat loss, local weather change, air pollution and poaching—it’s extra vital than ever to become involved.
“One of the best ways to keep the momentum going and growing on this movement to protect at-risk species is to engage as many people as possible,” says Court Whelan, Natural Habitat Adventures’ Chief Sustainability Officer. “And travel is a great way to achieve that.”
“As we always say here at Nat Hab, you cannot save what you do not love, and you cannot love what you do not know,” Court says. “People need to visit, see and learn about wildlife if they are going to advocate for a species’ survival.”
Discover 10 endangered species and the locations you may see them for your self with Nat Hab, the world’s main nature and wildlife journey firm.
1. African Elephants in Botswana
Strong and good—but in addition susceptible—African elephants are the world’s largest land mammals. Sadly, their numbers have suffered significantly from the unlawful wildlife commerce, habitat loss and fragmentation, and human-elephant battle. Botswana hosts the biggest populations of those unimaginable creatures, with some 130,000 elephants inside its borders.
© David Luck
Where to see them: Our 12-day Secluded Botswana Safari—Nat Hab’s flagship safari—provides a really unique journey into the guts of Africa’s wilderness. We even have a wide range of different Botswana-based itineraries that get you near huge elephant herds, together with our Southern Africa Riverboat Safari, Botswana Explorer, Epic Botswana & Namibia Safari and inexperienced season Botswana: Kalahari, the Delta & Beyond journeys.
Learn extra about African elephants from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
2. Orangutans in Borneo
Known for his or her distinctive purple fur, orangutans are the biggest arboreal mammals, spending most of their time in timber. They additionally share nearly 97% of our DNA! Unfortunately, these extremely smart creatures are simple targets for hunters due to their giant measurement and gradual velocity. They are additionally the victims of habitat loss as swaths of forests are cleared to make manner for palm oil plantations and timber and mining useful resource extraction.
© Kerry Sharpe
Where to see them: On Nat Hab’s 12-day The Wilds of Borneo: Orangutans & Beyond itinerary, vacationers go seeking uncommon and threatened wildlife on this planet’s oldest rain forests.
Learn extra about orangutans from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
3. Tigers in India
A uncommon vibrant spot within the battle to save lots of endangered species, after a century of decline, general wild tiger numbers are beginning to develop. Populations are secure or growing in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia, and China. This promising change is the results of strategic, long-term efforts by international locations to extend protections for tigers, have interaction native communities as leaders and companions in conservation, restore wildlife corridors, and enhance native assets. Through cooperation and collaboration, these international locations hope to safe a future the place tigers and other people can co-exist.
© Tracy Watson
Where to see them: Nat Hab provides three India journeys the place vacationers have the chance to view Bengal tigers. Our 12-day Grand India Wildlife Adventure is a complete journey to go to three nationwide parks. The seven-day India Tiger Quest is a extra singular, tiger-intensive itinerary by way of Ranthambore National Park. And our 11-day India Tiger Safari: A Photo Pro Expedition is designed for achieved photographers hoping to seize iconic photographs of those gorgeous large cats.
Learn extra about tigers from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
4. Galapagos Penguins within the Galapagos Islands
The solely species of penguin discovered north of the equator, these flightless birds quantity fewer than 2,000 people within the wild right this moment. Galapagos penguins are threatened by air pollution, bycatch and local weather change.
© Megan Brief
Where to see them: Nat Hab provides two eight-day small-group Galapagos cruises, together with our Classic Galapagos Experience and an energetic Galapagos Hiking & Kayaking Adventure.
Learn extra about Galapagos penguins from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
5. Monarch Butterflies in Mexico
Monarch butterflies are recognized by scientists as Danaus plexippus, which in Greek means “sleepy transformation.” The title evokes the species’ potential to hibernate and metamorphize.
Urban sprawl and agricultural growth have had a devastating impact on monarchs, as hundreds of thousands of acres of milkweed (the one plant on which monarchs will lay their eggs and the one meals supply for child caterpillars) have been plowed and paved. But local weather change poses the most important menace, because it disrupts annual migration patterns by affecting climate circumstances in each of the monarch’s winter and summer time breeding grounds.
© Kerry Sharpe
Where to see them: Nat Hab’s six-day Kingdom of the Monarchs tour provides the chance to witness one of many world’s most astounding wildlife occasions within the forested Central Highlands of Mexico. On foot and horseback, vacationers enter distant fir forests the place hundreds of thousands of monarchs roost and breed each winter. You get so shut—and there are such a lot of—you may hear the hum of their wings as tens of 1000’s take flight directly!
Learn extra about monarch butterflies from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
6. Sea Turtles in Costa Rica
Seven totally different species of sea turtle name the world’s oceans dwelling. But for a way for much longer? Unfortunately, inheritor existence is threatened by overharvesting and the unlawful meat commerce, habitat loss, bycatch in business fishing gear, air pollution and local weather change.
Where to see them: Look for inexperienced sea turtles in Tortuguero National Park on Nat Hab’s 10-day, all-encompassing Natural Jewels of Costa Rica nature expedition or on our eight-day Costa Rica Wilderness Explorer, the place vacationers have the possibility to witness the discharge of sea turtle hatchlings on the seaside.
Learn extra about sea turtles from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
7. Mountain Gorillas in Uganda
Just a few a long time in the past, the outlook for the survival of this subspecies of japanese gorilla was bleak. Although ongoing civil unrest within the area, poaching, illness and an encroaching human inhabitants nonetheless pose threats, the mountain gorilla’s prospects have brightened in recent times due to conservation efforts.
© Eric Rock
Where to see them: Nat Hab hosts two gorilla-focused adventures, each of which provide the uncommon alternative to sit down with households of endangered mountain gorillas. The 10-day Great Uganda Gorilla Safari options two gorilla treks by way of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The 13-day Ultimate Gorilla Safari, our premier primate journey, options 4 totally different gorilla-tracking expeditions (two every in Uganda and Rwanda). Both journeys additionally go to endangered chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale Forest.
Learn extra about mountain gorillas from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
8. Black Rhinos in Namibia
Namibia is dwelling to greater than a 3rd of Africa’s black rhino inhabitants, with the world’s largest inhabitants in Etosha National Park. This rhino species has doubled its numbers over the previous twenty years, from a low level of fewer than 2,500 people. However, with the ever-present menace of poaching, the way forward for black rhinos in Africa will rely largely on our potential to guard them.
Where to see them: On Nat Hab’s 10-day Great Namibia Wildlife Safari, an unique fly-in journey on the southwest fringe of Africa, company have the chance to look on foot for uncommon desert black rhinos alongside subject specialists from Save the Rhino Trust. We additionally monitor these large mammals on our 16-day Epic Botswana & Namibia Safari.
Learn extra about black rhinos from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
9. Blue Whales in Sri Lanka
The largest animal on the planet, weighing as a lot as 200 tons, these behemoths of the ocean sit on the very high of the meals chain. They even have an vital function within the general well being of our oceans. Like different giant whales, blue whales are threatened by environmental change, together with habitat loss and air pollution. Climate change straight impacts krill, their main prey (blue whales eat about 4 tons day by day!).
Where to see them: Search for them, plus different whales, on Nat Hab’s 11-day Sri Lanka Wildlife & Cultural Treasures journey, which features a personal boat cruise in Mirissa Harbor, together with an opportunity to search for endangered Sri Lankan leopards in Yala National Park.
Learn extra about blue whales from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
10. Snow Leopards within the Himalayas
Full disclosure: These large cats had been lately faraway from the endangered species record and are presently listed as a substitute as “vulnerable.” But we’re nonetheless together with them right here due to their rarity and the various threats they face.
Often known as the “ghosts of the mountains” or “gray ghosts,” due to their elusive nature and unimaginable pure camouflage, this magnificent large cat has dominated the high-altitude areas of 12 international locations throughout Asia—a complete vary that covers an space of near 772,204 sq. miles—for millennia. Poaching, habitat loss, declines in pure prey species, local weather change and human battle are the principle causes snow leopards are beneath menace.
© Surya Ramachandran
Where to see them: Travelers can seek for elusive snow leopards on two Nat Hab journeys within the Himalayas of far-north India, with sightings growing every season. On our 10-day Land of the Snow Leopard journey, high trackers and naturalists accompany company as they discover the austere alpine heights of Ladakh. And our 12-day Snow Leopard Quest: A Photo Pro Expedition is right for wildlife photographers keen to journey in pursuit of uncommon and coveted photographs few others have an opportunity to achieve.
Learn extra about snow leopards from our conservation accomplice, World Wildlife Fund.
For extra details about Endangered Species Day and how one can participate, go to endangered.org.