Endangered animal species and conservation efforts to prevent extinction

A)
The Amur leopard is considered to be critically endangered as per population data maintained by the World Wildlife Fund. This particular cat is mainly found in the Russian Far East and is known to be largely solitary. As of the year 2007, there were only 30 Amur leopards left in Russia’s wild. In other parts of the world, i.e. in China’s adjacent areas, only 8-12 cats remained.
The Amur leopard, according to the World Wildlife Fund, is threatened by aggravated poaching – with poachers largely targeting it for its attractive, spotted fur. For instance, according to the fund, an investigative team in Russia, in 1999, found skin for a male Amur leopard going for as much as 1000 USD. The price has perhaps tripled over the years, further enhanced by the cat’s increasing rarity.
Various efforts have been put in place to prevent the extinction of this beautiful cat. The antipoaching brigade in Russia has stepped up its efforts in recent times to protect the Amur leopard from poachers, particularly in Lazovsky State Nature Reserve, a well-established Amur leopard habitat. The World Wildlife Fund also “supports antipoaching work in all Amur leopard habitats in the Russian Far East and in known leopard localities in northeast China” (World Wildlife Fund, 2018). The efforts seem to have borne fruit with the current population of the cats estimated to be more than 60 (up from about 40 in 2007). (235 words).
Source
World Wildlife Fund (2018). “Species: Amur Leopard.” WWF. 2018. Web. 12 January 2018. https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/amur-leopard
B)
I did investigate my own family’s history by contacting several of my relatives including, but not limited to, my parents and grandparents. From the information that I gathered, in general, the size of the families (with regard to the number of children) has shrunk over time. My grandmother pointed out that they were a total of five siblings in their family. She observed that most other families at the time also had around the same number of children – with most of the families she was familiar with having 3 – 5 kids. This was back in the 40s and 50s. My mother and father, on the other hand, came from families comprising of 3 and 4 children respectively. They were both born in the 70s. My dad points out that during the 70s onwards, family size seems to have shrunk. I am in agreement as most families today are made up of parents and two children, which seems to be the ideal family size. Therefore, it is clear from both my family’s trend and today’s realities that smaller families have gained prominence in recent times. This is in direct contrast to the preference for a larger family a few decades ago. (200 words).
C)
Climate Change is Altering Lakes and Streams, Study Suggests
Carl, Zimmer. “Climate Change is Altering Lakes and Streams, Study Suggests.” New York Times. 10 Jan 2018. Web. 12 Jan 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/science/climate-change-lakes-streams.html
The author of this particular article points out that the high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is having far reaching impacts on marine life once the said gas mixes with inland waters. According to the author, thanks to fossil fuel burning, the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have shot up significantly in recent times and as things currently stand, the said levels could increase even further. One of the harmful effects of the increased carbon dioxide levels is lowered seawater PH, which as the author points out leads to the thinning of the shells of a variety of sea creatures including oysters. Further, one of the experts quoted by the author in the article points out that thanks to the increased carbon dioxide in our waters, marine organisms are finding it hard to function normally. This is more so the case for those organisms that are largely dependent on water’s chemical changes to either detect predators or hunt their next meal. (165 words).