Environmental Science Clubs in Mwanga, Tanzania
Liana, 2014 (www.liana-ry.org)
Endangered species and poaching
Objectives
1. Students are able to describe the functions of IUCN (International Union for
Conservation of Nature) that keeps the list of endangered species and describe the
categories of species according to how endangered the species are.
2. Students are able to explain the causes that endanger species’ existence.
3. Students are able to explain what should be done to avoid endangering species
and what to do to save those already endangered.
4. Students are aware of the serious problem of poaching and the scale of the
problem
Materials needed
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The film about endangered species: Endangered species it’s now or never
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd7gFgRklSw
Flip charts (2) of IUCN and categories of endangered species
Printed papers with one cause on each paper (5 causes).
Two films of poaching: African rhino poaching crisis and Cameroon elephant slaughter
Laptop, speakers, monitor, power source
Materials for the ‘leave to do task’:
 Reading materials of the endangered species (16 species)
 Reading material of the Mkomazi Rhino project
 Reading material of the Mkomazi Wild dog project
 Poster papers 6 (four for endangered species and two for the above projects)
 Printer papers A3 12 per school or A4 24 per school
 More black marker pens
 Colour pencils (two sets per schools) for drawing pictures of endangered animals
Sequence of the lesson
1. Definition of terms and the role of IUCN
 An endangered species: a species or organisms that will likely become extinct.
 Extinction: is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms, normally a species. The
moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the
species.
3
Environmental Science Clubs in Mwanga, Tanzania
Liana, 2014 (www.liana-ry.org)
Give short history of IUCN and full name and describe the categories by flip charts:
What is IUCN and the Red list? (flip chart 1)
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature founded in 1948.
It is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental organization.
It is an organization that keeps a list of endangered species and categorizes them according to
how seriously endangered they are.
The IUCN Red List is the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global
conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.
The IUCN Red List System was first conceived in 1964 and set a standard for species listing and
conservation assessment efforts. The red list is based on comprehensive research on habitat,
threats, stresses, current conservation actions needed, research needed, use and trade etc
The Red list has seven categories (flip chart 2)
 Least concern (LC)
 Near threatened (NT)
 Vulnerable (VU)
 Endangered (EN)
 Critically endangered (CR)
 Extinct in the wild (EW)
 Extinct (EX)
Show the film: Endangered species it’s now or never
Ask students’ thoughts about the film.
Point out the long list of animals that humans are ready to sacrifice by destroying their habitats and by
killing them.
Give more examples from East Africa, e.g.
- mountain gorilla (critically endangered),
- the white rhinoceros (near threatened),
- chimpanzee (endangered),
- African wild dog (endangered),
- black rhinoceros(critically endangered)
- lion (vulnerable)
- cheetah (vulnerable)
- leopard (near threatened)
- Kihansi spray toad (extinct in the wild)
Show the two films about poaching
Teacher asks what the students thought about the films and the poaching crisis.
Make sure students understand what animals are poached for:
Environmental Science Clubs in Mwanga, Tanzania
Liana, 2014 (www.liana-ry.org)
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Ivory for making decorative items
Rhino horn due to beliefs in Asia that it cures illnesses such as cancer and impotence of
men
pelts/skins (tiger) for making rugs (carpets) and bags and other items. There are 3200
tigers left, but still their pelts are for sale in Asian countries.
Bush meat (local poaching)
Because local people cannot live in harmony with wild-life (e.g. livestock keepers and
agriculturalists kill animals illegally… e.g. lions and elephants)
Distinguish the large scale poaching from the local poaching
 Trade drives large scale poaching. It is a multi-billion trade, connected to human
trafficking, drug dealing, terrorism. Al-Qaida gets 40% of its funding from ivory trade.
 Local poaching is small-scale compared to the international trade-driven poaching
Remind that in 2012 30,000 elephants were poached.
Remind that over the first three weeks of year 2014 37 rhinos were already killed in South Africa
alone.
2. Next we look in groups at what causes an animal to become endangered or to become
extinct.
Divide the students into five groups. Each group studies the subject (cause) given and
prepares to present it to others (not reading directly from the paper)
1. HABITAT LOSS
A habitat is the ecosystem a species needs to live in - a swamp, rainforest, woodland, desert
etc. GLOBALLY, HABITAT LOSS IS THE GREATEST CAUSE OF SPECIES BEING ENDANGERED.
Construction of homes, buildings, roads, timber harvesting, loss of farmlands and the creation
of farmlands threatens many ecosystems. Rapid population growth in developing countries
worsens the problem, as new land is constantly needed for expanding human settlements.
2. UNREGULATED OR ILLEGAL KILLING POACHING and WILDLIFE TRADE
This is the biggest cause of endangering species existence in East Africa. Some of the species
e.g. the black rhino has become endangered because it has been over-hunted for its horn.
In developed world, hunting is regulated properly. A certain number of animals can be
hunted to keep the population stable, but in developing countries, the hunting of animals is
not well regulated. Illegal wildlife trade also accelerates killing of wild animals. Wildlife crime
is an organized criminal business run by dangerous international networks connected to
terrorism, human trafficking and drug trade.
3. INTRODUCTION OF NEW SPECIES OR INVASIVE SPECIES
When a new species is introduced in a habitat or when a species escapes and starts inhabiting
a new area, it can wipe out indigenous species. For example, Nile Perch introduction in Lake
Victoria wiped out several indigenous fish species. This can happen when a predator is
Environmental Science Clubs in Mwanga, Tanzania
Liana, 2014 (www.liana-ry.org)
introduced to an area, when it does not have a natural predator itself, its population
increases and it may eat other species up to extinction.
4. DISEASE
Sometimes humans introduce diseases and problems into a species. The most publicized
example is DDT, an insecticide that was used all over the world. It was found in water and soil
and eventually worked its way up the food chain from small water feeders to the fish who ate
the plant life in the water and the animals and humans who ate the fish. This caused eagles
and peregrine falcons to produce eggs that had shells so thin that they broke just from the
mother sitting on them. The endangered chimpanzees in Tanzania die of influenza that they
catch from the tourists.
5. POLLUTION
Pollution can take many forms. Water, air and ground pollution are all related. Toxic
substances dumped in a wooded area will destroy the soil and the species that live in it (from
bacteria, to insects, and the birds and animals that eat them) but it will also get into the
groundwater below it.
3. So what to do?
Students write notes as teacher teaches:
i)
What to do to avoid endangering species
- Establishing conservation areas (National parks, wildlife corridors, nature reserves) to
reduce the human interference with their habitat.
- Co-existing among animals and humans requires specific planning measures and
regulations that support other forms of lives other than humans. It does not happen
naturally!
- Protecting some species such as plant species outside the reserves (e.g. making illegal to
pick certain plants).
- Regulating hunting depending on the number of animals and need of hunting licenses.
- Educate people and help them stop some beliefs such as that the body parts of some
animals have medicinal powers to heal diseases.
ii)
What to do to save the endangered species
- Taking some species to the zoos and after they have multiplied reintroduce them to their
natural habitat. But reproduction may be difficult in captivity for some species.
Example some Kihansi toads were taken to Toledo zoo in the USA where they were
protected and managed to breed and increase their number. In 2010 about 100 species
were returned to Tanzania and some were introduced to their natural habitats.
Environmental Science Clubs in Mwanga, Tanzania
Liana, 2014 (www.liana-ry.org)
-
Translocation: This happens when a species become endangered in its natural habitat. To
save it, it can be relocated to another similar safer place where it can start breeding and
increase in number.
o Examples of breeding in a new location are the African wild dog and Rhino project
in Mkomazi. (Teacher reads the materials beforehand and tells about these
projects)
Introduce the ‘Leave to do task’.
 Make four posters of endangered species. Each has pictures of four endangered species
and some text about each species, each on a A4 size papaer. Pictures are drawn by using
colour pencils.
 Make two posters of the rehabilitation projects in Same, Mkomazi National Park. Draw
pictures, summarize text from the reading materials.
 The group that made a poster presents the content of their poster to other groups.
Environmental Science Clubs in Mwanga, Tanzania
Liana, 2014 (www.liana-ry.org)
Leave-to-do task instructions to Nature club teachers
Endangered Species
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Make 4 posters of Endangered Species. The poster size is a flip chart paper.
One poster has four A4 size papers glued on it. Each A4 size paper describes one endangered
species. Thus you describe 16 endangered species in total on these four posters.
Use the reading materials provided. Cover each species only once.
Add the common title to each poster Endangered species at the top of the poster
Endangered species
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Note that posters are looked at from about 1 meter or 2
African Hunting dog
African Elephant
meters. So, do not write oversize text. The main title can be
Picture
Picture
about 4-5cm high. Titles on species descriptions are about
3 cm high, and the text that describes the species can be
text
about 1-1.5 high. Posters are not like flip charts used
text
Pi
text
during lessons when people need to see the text from the
ct
Names of students here
Names of students here
back of the classroom, 10 meters away! So do not waste
u
r
paper by writing too big text. Using paper economically
Amur Leopard
Black Rhino
e
conserves forests and trees from which paper is made. Let
us be environmentally aware in environmental clubs!
Draw the needed pictures or a picture of the species (this
can be done on separate smaller pieces of paper and glued
on) and write the main points from the reading material to
explain the species and its conservation status. Use your
own design skills to divide the paper neatly between text
and pictures.
Students do independent study in groups. Then each group teaches their method to the rest of
the club (and later possibly the whole school)
Keep all materials at the school at all times. Do not allow students to take anything home.