Why endangered species are important

Endangered Species can be understood as the animals that are on high risk of extinction. There are many endangered species of plants and animals worldwide that are in danger.

There are various reasons that cause the extinction of these species like the restriction of habitat, misuse of these species for commercial purposes, diseases, adverse climatic conditions, etc.

The IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) is the authority that keeps a close watch on different species and determines what species care lose to extinction. IUCN evaluate various factors to determine endangered species like decline, size of the population, area of geographic distribution, etc. The endangered animal species that comes on the top of this list are,

• Amur Leopard
• Orangutan
• Sea Turtle
• Gorilla
• Koala
• Snow Leopard
• Rhinos
• Sea Otter
• Pangolin
• Asian Elephant
• Blue Whale
• Whooping Crane
• Tiger
• Giant Panda
• Tasmanian Devil etc.

Causes of increasing Endangered Species

There are a lot of efforts going on across the world to save endangered species. There could be many reasons for the extinction of endangered species but one of the major reasons is loss of habitat. Agreed or not but the loss of habitat has been caused by humans for the sake of development.

This enormous development has disturbed the wildlife ecosystem quite badly. Whatever is the reason but the fact is that now the protection of these endangered species is one of the priority issues across the globe.

Many of us may think that why protecting endangered species is important. Well, there are many benefits to saving these endangered species. Let’s discuss it in brief.

Importance of protecting endangered species

Why are endangered species important and why we should save endangered species? Many people don’t even understand the importance of protecting endangered species.

If you also have the same question then you might get an answer to this question in this article.

Here are some benefits discussed explaining the question of why protecting endangered species is important?

• For the amusement of future generations

The argument is going on worldwide “why protecting endangered species are important”. One simple objective of protecting endangered species is the amusement of future generations.

It is a lot of pleasure and fun to behold such wonderful animals.

Unfortunately, the species that are about to be extinct will not be available for future generations. They will not be able to interact with these species.

The only source of getting information about these endangered species will be through the internet or books.

• To maintain proper balance in the environment

In an ecosystem, all the living and non-living organisms are connected to each other. The absence of anything will disturb the balance in nature. As a result of this, the entire ecosystem has to suffer for the loses.

Bee is an appropriate example to prove this point. It may seem a very small organism but it plays an important role in the ecosystem. Bees are very good pollinators and help in the reproduction process in plants.

The extinction of bees will leads to the extinction of various plant species that depends on this organism for pollination. Eventually, it will hamper the entire food chain of the ecosystem.

• To get medicinal benefits

There are many species of plants that provide us with medical advantages. A very good example is “purple foxglove” that helps to derive a very useful drug named digitalis.

This drug is useful to treat many health problems of human such as irregular heartbeat, tuberculosis, headache, congestive heart failure, asthma, epilepsy, constipation, etc.

Now, just imagine if this plant species get extinct, how big loss it will be for mankind. This is just one example, there are thousands of plant species that are very close to being extinct that we are not even aware of.

We not only get medicinal benefits from plants but some animals also contain medicinal properties. Some example of these animals are-

• The frog that helps to generate compound which is useful to treat the infection.
• Scorpion’s venom is used to research brain tumours.
• The elements of viper help to control blood pressure.
• The secretion from leeches helps to prevent coagulation & inflammation, etc.

There are endless advantages of various plants and animal species. If these species get extinct, ultimately we have to suffer for these losses.

• For agricultural benefits

Agriculture plays a vital role in the conservation of species. Farmers have been observed as great conservationists. Many farmers leave some portion of their land as a natural habitat to help some endangered animals.

Some animals like gecko & spider help to protect crops and acts as natural pest control agents. These insects ultimately help to improve the yield of crops much better.

• Recreational purposes

The tourism industry gets a lot of benefits from various species of plants and animals. If we take an example of the American Tourism Industry it depends greatly on the plant & animal ecosystem.

Millions of people visit these areas to interact with the beauty of nature every year. The visitors take part in various activities related to wildlife and national parks. All these activities show great results in terms of economic benefits.

A huge portion of the economy of a country depends on the tourism industry. The maximum number of visitors equals to maximum benefit. The recreational purpose also proves why endangered species so important for us.

• Cleaning the environment

There are some animal species that play a very important role in the cleanliness of the ecosystem. These animals belong to the category of scavengers. Scavengers eat the flesh of dead animals and thus help to clean the ecosystem.

Just imagine if these animals get extinct how messed up will be our ecosystem. Wild vulture is an example of scavengers that fulfils its food requirement by eating dead animals.

• Conclusion 

Every organism in our ecosystem is like a family member. If a member of the family gets lost then the place becomes irreplaceable.

Similarly, each species whether it’s a plant or animal plays its role in the ecosystem. If anyone species gets extinct it is a loss for the entire ecosystem.

We all must take this initiative to save the endangered species in order to restore balance in the ecosystem. We should learn and implement preventive measure to protect the endangered species.