In
this issue, we are going to zoom in on a tragedy of mother nature: the
extinction of animals. We will be introducing you fellow readers to the
Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers, also known as the Lord God Bird.
Tracks of Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers can be found in humid swampy forests. They are most located in the Southern United States and Cuba, where lots of hardwood forests are found. They prefer thick hardwood swamps or pine forests, with dead and decaying trees. Like any other living creature, they need clean water and food. Most importantly, they need a safe place to live in, which is what they currently don’t have, since people are rapidly destroying their homes for economical use. (after civil war their land was destructed for the timber industry.)
Ivory-billed
woodpeckers eat beetle larvae, berries, nuts, and insects. Their
predators are dependant on the sizes of the woodpeckers. Smaller
woodpeckers’ predators are often birds in larger sizes, like hawks or
eagles. For larger woodpeckers, predators include owls or foxes. In
addition, snakes and squirrels often target the eggs of these
woodpeckers too. The destruction of their homes caused them to lose
their food source, and they are no longer capable of hiding from
predators, since trees are cut down, making woodpeckers an easy target
for their arch enemies.
Since they have been ‘extinct’ for a short period of time and found again, organisations have been set up to help this beautiful species. ‘Woods Conservation Partnership’, led by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University and The Nature Conservancy are industriously that are studying and tracking these ivory-billed woodpeckers are a couple of the organisations helping the endangered bird as well as some organisations in Florida.
Each country has their own national animal to save from extinction, so why would they want any animal to be gone forever? That’s why organisations are constantly established, so people would be more alert of the fact that unfortunately we all played a role in making this species endangered, and that everyone is responsible of the situation happening today.
Let’s
take a look on our own nation. In Malaysia, there are several species
facing the crisis of extinction too. Widely known examples are
Leather-back Sea Turtles and Orangutans. A big similarity between the
extinction of Orangutans and Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers is that the reason
behind them facing extinct is because humans are using the natural
resources inappropriately. They have been overly burning and chopping
down forests where Orangutans and woodpeckers live in. However,
comparing to America, Malaysia has done little effort in protecting
these valuable species.
We
should protect definitely give in our best to save the Ivory-Billed
Woodpeckers because we have already lost them once, and can’t afford to
lose them again. In fact, any species facing extinction should be saved.
You cannot recover them once they are gone forever. We can do this by
preserving forests for them and using less paper, so that the number of
trees being cut down will be lessened. It is not an impossible task to
do in today’s world, as long as those timber companies are not anymore
blinded by wealth and profits.
We
believe that our next generation should be given the chance to
appreciate the beauty of such unique animals. Second chances are
extremely rare, so why waste this one? Make the right choice, and
helping hand to these innocent creatures who are paying the price for
our selfish acts.
Bibliography:
IBW foundation http://ibwfound.org/foundation.cfm
BBC news http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/4493825.stm
About
http://birding.about.com/od/birdprofiles/p/Ivory-Billed-Woodpecker.htm
Ivory Billed Woodpecker http://www.ivorybill.org/
http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=B03Q
Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/
