What is Endangered Species Day?
May 19th 2023, marks the 50th anniversary of Endangered Species Day. Every year, thousands of people around the world mark the day by taking action to protect the planet’s most at-risk animals and plants. Celebrated every third Friday in May, it’s a chance to highlight the dangers threatening wildlife, from climate change to habitat destruction.
This Global Day of Action and celebration was created and founded by David Robinson and the Endangered Species Coalition in 2006 and has continued ever since. On Endangered Species Day 2023, wildlife refuges, gardens, schools, libraries, museums, community groups, non-profits, and individuals will hold special programs or events.
Why is Endangered Species Day so important?
The diversity of life on Earth is astounding. Over the course of several billion years, numerous life forms have evolved to occupy every niche of our planet. This includes even the most inhospitable areas such as blisteringly hot deep-ocean vents, relentlessly dry deserts, and the freezer-like temperatures of Antarctica. A single rainforest tree can host as many as 2,000 species of insect, bird, reptile, amphibian, mammal, fungus, moss, and other plants. Tantalisingly, the 1.2 million species already identified are merely the tip of the iceberg. The vast majority of the world’s biodiversity – including over five million varieties of insect and more than two million marine creatures – have yet to be described.
Every time we lose a species, we are not just losing something unique and valuable; it becomes more difficult for other species to remain healthy and stable. Species are connected to each other in intricate webs of relationships. Removing one species from the web can affect the whole system. If the extinction crisis continues, we may find ourselves at a point where entire ecosystems come crashing down.
More than 37,400 species globally are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). That’s 28% of all types of wildlife and plants! We shouldn’t need to be told that something needs to be done and fast. Over 2000 of these endangered species are in the UK alone so I thought I would focus on some of these that we may be lucky enough to see at home in our lifetimes.
Puffins
One my all-time favourite birds, the puffin. Easily recognisable by its glossy black dinner jacket with a white bib and a brightly coloured stripey bill, these guys can be found across the UK. Bempton Cliffs on the Yorkshire coast and the Farne Islands just off Northumberland offer places to spot puffins. As well as Anglesey in Wales, both the East and West coasts of Scotland and the iconic Shetland Islands which claim to have the best views of puffins around.
From April to July, 10% of the global puffin population return to the UK and make their home on islands and cliff tops around our shores. Here they will nest in their little hobbit-like burrows in the ground. Puffins are loyal to one another, each year mating with the same bird and producing one chick. This one chick, known as a puffling, keeps its parents busy through fishing to keep it well-fed and satisfied. Their favourite meal is sand eel which they catch by diving and swimming using their wings. Once the season is done, the puffins will leave, heading out into the Bay of Biscay and beyond where they spend the winter months bobbing about on the rough seas. Early in the season, puffins will flock out on the sea in groups called “rafts”.
I experienced these birds myself on a trip to Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull in Scotland a few years ago. I remember a fairly choppy adventure on a small wildlife watching boat. We docked up on a small island and had to walk up the cliff face to the top. When sitting there about to indulge on our picnic of cheese sandwiches, a tiny bird landed about a foot away me, his bill teeming with sand eels. Expecting them to be about the size of a seagull, I remember being amazed at how tiny these puffins were. They only stand about 50cm tall and pop up out of 3ft deep burrows dotted all over the grass which I had ignorantly mistaken for rabbit holes.
Sadly, this species is most at risk from climate change. Their population has been assessed by the IUCN as Vulnerable. This means they face a high risk of extinction in the wild. They spend the winter months on the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. This makes them particularly susceptible to pollution, such as oil spills. Rising sea temperatures have caused sand eel populations to drop dramatically. Where there is a lack of alternative food, puffins are having to travel further to feed their chicks. This can lead to chicks dying before they are old enough to leave the nest. On Shetland, some puffins are having to make round trips of 250km. This is ten times further than normal, and bringing back much smaller sand eels compared with those on mainland colonies further south colonies further south.
Basking sharks
The second biggest fish in the sea, just behind its cousin, the whale shark. The basking shark is the largest shark in UK waters. Despite its huge terrifying open mouth, they feed on plankton and are completely harmless. Although, as I write these words and I can feel my heart beating faster as I think back to the same trip to Tobermory where we took another wildlife boat tour to see basking sharks.
Now, I wouldn’t say I had a fear of sharks or the open water per say, but I do remember watching Jaws when I was far too young and have held a constant dread of being eaten by a shark ever since. I even used to imagine seeing shark fins as I paddled on holiday in Hayling Island when I was small. Stood on the small, wooden, rickety tour boat looking down at several large, black, triangular dorsal fins sticking out of the water, getting closer and closer. I knew they had no interest in consuming me. However, I couldn’t help crying inside that one was going to tip the boat over and gobble me up! Ridiculous I know!
These “gentle giants” can also be seen in Summer around the coasts of Cornwall and the Isle of Man. They swim slowly back and forth with their enormous mouths wide open filtering the plankton out of the water. They can grow up to 8 meters in length and live up to 50 years. Due to their size, basking sharks unfortunately fall victim to overfishing for food. Its fins are particularly sought after for famous shark fin soup. Its large liver is used for oil and many parts used in traditional Chinese medicine and as a Japanese aphrodisiac. They are now classed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. They are listed under CITES Appendix II and are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Hedgehogs
Everyone’s favorite garden critter has seen a harsh decline in the last 70 years. In 1950 there were an estimated 36 million hedgehogs in the UK. Sadly by 2013, the population had dropped to just one million. These little pincushions are widespread throughout England and Wales. Found mostly in gardens, woodlands, and hedgerows but they are one of the most frequently admitted animals to rescue centers.
A multitude of factors have now caused hedgehogs to become Vulnerable to extinction. These include the increased use of pesticides making it harder to find food. Garden hazards like nettings and ponds that they can become trapped in also have an impact. Plus, warmer winters that have affected the hedgehog’s hibernation patterns. Waking them up at the wrong time of year before there is enough food around. New roads and building developments constructed in their habitat may also be a factor. It’s thought that around 10% of the population are killed by cars every year.
There are many simple ways to make life easier for hedgehogs that we can do in our own gardens. Things like,
- leaving a shallow bowl of water out when it’s hot
- making sure there are gaps in your fence that the hedgehogs can fit through
- leaving an area of your garden ‘wild’ for them
A quick internet search will provide lots of different ways to help our spiky friends.
Beavers
It’s not all doom and gloom. The beaver has been on the road to recovery, slowly bouncing back from being near extinction. Beavers are important as the dams they build for their homes double as a tool for filtering and cleaning water. Thereby creating a healthy environment for richer biodiversity.
However, they were heavily hunted about 400 years ago for their prized pelt (and meat) in the fur trade. Coupled with water pollution, the semi aquatic mammal was all but extinct here in the UK. Now, thanks to decades of conservation work, rewilding and reintroduction programmes in Devon and Scotland, beaver numbers have been on the rise.
I was lucky enough to see beavers on the river Stour in Canterbury a couple of years back when some friends and I went for an early evening canoe on my birthday. Our guides had heard rumours of beavers in the area and had seen signs of them around such as gnawing marks on trees along the banks. We had almost given up hope of finding any, my mind drifting off towards the pub when our guides stopped to attach a camera trap to a tree and suddenly there was lots of splashing up ahead. We slowly drifted towards it. Then, we clearly saw two beavers slapping their tails on the water’s surface before diving and reappearing behind us, tail slapping again. A truly amazing sighting and a pretty good birthday present from mother nature.
So what can we do to help Endangered Species?
As we are all animal lovers, I’m sure everyone reading this would want to do their bit to help all of these and thousands of other UK Endangered Species. We’ve already looked at how we can help the hedgehogs but what other ways are there to help? By signing up to organizations such as The Great British Hedgerow survey or Living with Mammals, you can record the species that you see each week. As well as any signs they might leave behind, such as droppings or footprints.
You can choose any green space or hedgerow to survey. Then all your findings help go into the protection and conservation of these species. Even things like counting butterflies and birds in your garden and reporting sightings to the appropriate groups can help. And if you are ever lucky enough to see a basking shark or a beaver, report those sightings to the local wildlife organizations too. They are able to keep a track on if numbers are increasing or diminishing.
If you don’t fancy counting wildlife, you can create simple habitats in your own garden for small creatures and insects. Leaving things to grow wild, will help bees and other pollinators as well as creating houses and hiding places for smaller scuttling things.
Plant native species in the garden or even throw a “bee bomb” into the grass. In a few weeks’ time, you’ll have beautiful wildflowers that bring bees, butterflies and birds to your own back yard.
If you fancy a more hands-on approach, contact your local wildlife rescue centers. They are often looking for volunteers and items for donation such as old newspapers or animal food. You’ll be surprised about how far little things can go in these places. And plus, you may get to spend time with some awesome animals!
However you chose to help out, thank you on behalf of all the UK’s endangered species. Hopefully we can help move things further away from the risk of extinction.
