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Giant Panda

Species name: The scientific name for the giant panda is Ailuropoda melanoleuca.

Classification: The giant panda is in the animalia kingdom, the chordata phylum, the mammalia class, in the carnivora order, in the Ursidae (bear) family.

Diet: It eats a certain type of bamboo and some insects.

Physical properties and adaptations: It has a shoulder height of 65 to 70 cm. Some adaptations it has are black and white fur to camouflage in snow and rock, thick fur to keep warm during winter and a “pseudo” (fake) thumb that helps it pick up objects.

Habitat and location: The giant panda lives in forests of Southwest China, to the east of the Tibetan Plateau, in the Yangtze Basin.

Size of current population: There are only 2500 mature in the wild.

Factors for endangered state: The factors that caused the giant panda to become endangered are deforestation due to civilization, habitat loss and poaching.

What is being done to protect this species: Many panda reserves are being built by the Chinese government to protect the giant panda, covering 2.5 million acres. Over 60% of the panda population is being protected by the reservation areas. Also, trade for its species and products for commercial purposes are banned.

Golden Toad

Species name: The scientific name for the golden toad is Bufo periglenes.

Classification: The golden toad is in the animalia kingdom, in the chordata phylum, in the amphibia class, in the Anura order, in the Bufonidae (Toad) family.

Diet: Scientists are not sure about what they eat, but they most likely to eat small invertebrates.

Physical properties and adaptations: The female is 42 to 56 mm long, and the male is 39 to 48 mm long. They are shiny, small and bright orange toads. On their paws, they have sharp claws to defend themselves.

Habitat and Location: They lived in a small area of high-altitude rainforest, called cloud forest in Costa Rica.

Time of extinction: The golden toad became officially extinct in 1989.

Factors that lead to its extinction: All amphibians are very sensitive to changes in the environment such as pollution. So health of amphibians reflects the health of the ecosystem. A factor that lead to the extinction of the golden toad are sudden climate change to warm, dry climate due to global warming. The conditions became too dry, so the ponds dried up and the tadpoles could not survive. The climate was just right for a type of skin fungus to form. The fungus grew on their skin, and made them vulnerable to disease. Also, the thinning of the ozone layer allowed excessive UV radiation to enter that killed them.