Name: Seth Cook
Lecture Activity Handout: Characteristics of Rare and Endangered Species
Part A
Surf through the list of official U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Endangered and Threatened Species List
at http://www.fws.gov/endangered. Click on the various categories of organisms and scan the lists (for
example, mammals, clams, or flowering plants).
Select one species from the list, and find the following information for it. Circle your answer; more
than one answer can be circled for the “Where Found” and “Major Threats” categories.
Species Name: Psittirostra psittacea
Kind of Organism:
Plant
Reptile
Arthropod
Mollusk
Fish
Amphibian
Bird
Mammal
Other
Southeast
Southwest
Central United States
Alaska
Hawaii
Endangerment Status:
Endangered
Threatened
Where Found:
Northeast
Northwest
Major Threats:
Naturally small population
Habitat loss
Invasive species
Overexploitation
Pollution
Part B
Surf through the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species at www.redlist.org. Go to the Search page, and
type in the Text Search box the common name of an organism (for example, oak, hawk, rabbit, turtle, or
frog). Also try searching by region of the world and country.
Select one species from the list, and find the following information for it. Circle your answer; more
than one answer can be circled for the “Where Found” and “Major Threats” categories.
Species Name:
Cercopithecus wolfi
Kind of Organism:
Plant
Reptile
Arthropod
Mollusk
Fish
Amphibian
Bird
Mammal
Other
Southeast
Southwest
Central United States
Alaska
Hawaii
Endangerment Status:
Endangered
Threatened
Where Found:
Northeast
Northwest
Major Threats:
Naturally small population
Habitat loss
Invasive species
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Overexploitation
Pollution
1. Where geographically are most endangered species found in the United States? In the world?
More than 90 percent of the listed endangered species in the U.S. are found in Hawaii, California, Florida, Texas and
southwestern Appalachia.
2. What are the most important causes of endangerment?
Habitat destruction and degradation have been the most important causes recently.
3. What did you observe about the kinds of organisms that appear on the lists?
They are all majorly endangered because of habitat destruction.
4. What is the likely value of these lists? Is it worthwhile to attempt to preserve all of these species? Why
or why not?
Yes it is. They all play a role in their ecosystem in some way.
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.