Emma Lucken
Writer’s Workshop
2/16/12
Thesis Rough Draft
Animals need help; endangered animals need help with
eight extinct animal species this century. Endangered
specimens don't have to be beautiful to be worth saving.
Have you ever wondered what you could do? What you
could possibly do to help that number go down for
decades to come? Get awareness out. Tell people about
these animals, like the Baiji Dolphin or the Golden Toadboth extinct this century (2006 and 2007). Make them
sad; make them want to help also. Set up events that get
even more word out, set up a website that people can
donate money to help scientists. All of this could save our
world, save our critters that make our world go round.
Another important thing to do is to learn about
endangered creatures and then learn what you can do to
help them. This is important because you can feel more
passionate about your work when you love the fauna you
are trying to help and when you spend your time knowing
what you are doing. If any animal species go extinct it can
affect the whole world and not in a good way throwing
off the whole balance of the world. No matter what the
critter looks like they need help and play a big part in our
world balancing it and preserving only like an animal can!
Before you do anything to help endangered animals you
need to know about some of them, this will help you
understand how to help and why. What are the most
common ways that an animal species becomes extinct?
Commercial hunting or fishing, poaching, black market,
loss of habitat, humans coming into the habitat and
spreading debris or trash, pollution, the introduction of
nonnative species, virus or disease, and climate change
are only a few of the ways that an animal species can
become endangered. Also many endangered animal species
are not the most pretty or known about critters. Here’s a
description of a one endangered species that is not known
about; the Monito Del Monte is a small animal with a
brown fur. It’s a tiny marsupial that is slightly larger
than a mouse. Its brown fur is short, dense, and silky. It
has a number of ashy white patches, paler below. The
ears are furry and short, with black rings around the
eyes. The tail stores fat and is covered with hairs that
match the body color at the base and become darker
brown towards the tip. Why is this animal extinct? The
introduction of the black rat and the loss of habitat are
the main reasons. When you waste paper you waste this
more critter’s life, which did nothing to you! Imagine you
throwing out a piece of paper and then imagine a little
Monito Del Monte baby being forced out of his home.
Why should I know about this critter? What does it
matter? If you learn about any critter you may feel more
compelled to help it, also if you only knew why you should
help it then what use is it if you can’t tell people whom
you are helping? Also when people actually know what
fauna you’re talking about, when you tell them to recycle
they will understand you better. It’s an important part of
helping the endangered species to know what you are
helping.
If you learn how to help you can better help the
endangered animals who need you to help so badly. This is
what I am thinking as I type on my tiny black computer.
I’m doing my email of the week, which is when I email
friends and people in class to tell about the endangered
species in these emails I can actually tell people how they
affect endangered creatures. Maybe if people know how
to help in tiny, easy ways they will be able to do it more
often. I email them facts and data about endangered
specimens in hopes that they will then be educated. Then
maybe they will change their ways and think about how
their actions affect the critters that need help. I type in
‘The Monito Del Monte is going extinct. Many of you may
not know this but if these tiny little animals go, it can
change the world. The ecosystem will be thrown off
balance and it can change everything. This little critter is
going extinct because of humans introducing the black
rat into its habitat and by losing its homes. We humans
cut down little creature's homes to make paper that may
be thrown away because of a little mistake on one side.
Think when you throw something away; think of little
Monito Del Montes and how this effects how the babies
will grow up. How can you help? Recycle! This saves paper
and doesn't need more trees cut down.’ I click the send
button and hope that they will read it and maybe think
about these critters. Then I got an email back, ‘Wow
Emma that’s great that you are trying to help the animals
that are going extinct. I never thought that much about
the animals that going extinct but, now I do! Thank you
for telling me about it. If you have more information
about it please tell me so maybe I can tell others to help
too. You’re doing GREAT.’ When I read that I felt really
good, someone had cared! Someone was thinking about
what I was doing and that was my whole point. If they
learned if the next generation learns how to help save
our Earth then we may stand a chance. We may stand a
chance in fighting to save the endangered fauna that are
going extinct. If we learn how to save the endangered
animals we may stand a chance saving the Earth.
All animals help to balance our ecosystem and when some
species go extinct there could be massive (and not good)
changes. To understand this it’s easiest to have an
example that really shows what you mean. If a lion went
extinct then the antelope and other animals it eats would
become more populated. These animals would eat all the
grass (and other things that they eat) and would then
become hungry because all of the grass being gone. These
antelopes would become extinct and then the other
animals that eat them would become extinct too. I
learned about this on Earth Day when my class when to
see a movie about it. We learned all about the delicate
balance and we started thinking about how we affect our
ecosystem. For the rest of the year we worked hard at
recycling. We learned tons of facts; we learned that over
1,000 animal species are endangered worldwide. We also
learned that with global warming becoming a major issue,
the fact is the existing 28,270 species of mammals are
threatened by the harms done to the planet. I think that
what we learned and what we are learning can really
affect our world. Our ecosystem has a very delicate
balance and when that ecosystem balance is upset it can
cause bad changes.
Why should I care? You may ask. They’re just some dumb
animals that should care for themselves! Well we have to
care for endangered species because it’s us that made
the mess. We drove these critters to near extinction
with cutting down trees, introducing new species to the
area, poaching, etc. We need to clean up the mess we
made the mess our ancestors made. You may not have
made this mess but our ancestors did and we need to
clean up their mess. We need to know about the critters
to help them but, once you’ve done that, you can find
yourself drawn to a certain animal and then you can
actually help the entire species. You also have to know
need to know how to help the creatures in order to clean
up our mess. Also without these animals our whole
ecosystem could be wrecked! Endangered animals don’t
need to be beautiful to be worth saving, without them our
world could be turned upside down!
Helpful Links:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_animals_become_extinct_or_endangered
http://www.factsaboutanimals.net/facts-about-endangered-animals.htm
http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=81
http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=42
http://thewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/Insectivora/Solenodontidae/
Solenodon/Solenodon-cubanus.html
http://dodosgone.blogspot.com/