The Pinta Island Tortise

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There is only one of these left in existance and his name is George. He is the last of his kind the sole survivour of his species. Lonesome George is a sub species of the Galapagos tortise native to the Galapagos Islands. He holds the flag for the rarest creature doomed to walk the planets surface alone. He is world famous for being the last giant turtle and can be found on Pinta Island, he was first discovered in 1971 on the first of December just walking around minding his own business. Nobody had seen a tortise so big so they done their research and discovered that he was the last of his kind. George was put to two females of a different species to try and save the species but there was no sucess with  their efforts.

George is now estimated to be about 90 years old and in good health. Scientists had discovered another male tortise on the island of Isabela a neighbouring Island from George’s this tortise was found to have similar genes to george but of a different species. In July of last year 2008 George mated with a companion tortise of a different sub species and she laid 13 eggs these were collected and placed in an incubator. As the study continued of these eggs, it was found that 80% were infertile and showed signs of weight loss. At the end of the study all of the eggs were doomed. Even if they did hatch George would still be the last of the Pinta Island Tortise.

The Javan Rhino

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These Javan Rhinos are a rare breed there are only 60 of these in the wild and they are a protected species. They survive in only two locations in the world Indonesia and Veitnam. They were once known throughout Asia but they were hunted and killed for sport and meat and believed to have medicinal uses in most of these areas. By the 1930’s they were nearly driven to extinction in Burma, India, Sumatra and Malaysia. Even these days the Janan Rhino is acceptable to deseases and prone to in breeding under supervision of the conservation that are trying to protect them. Because there are so few of these and most of them come from the same families more and more of them are being born with defects. Within the next twenty years this species are deemed to be extinct.

They are considered to be the largest rarest land mammal on the planet. They are a lot smaller than the rhinos we see today but built pretty much the same shape. They have the amour like skin and the horns and everything, their horns are as valuable as elephant tusks on the black market. Their horns only grow to be about 10 inches where as the rhino we know today theirs can grow up to 20 inches. This is what sparked the mass killing along with agricultural growth and development.

The Iberian Lynx

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This lynx is endangered and the last count conducted in 2007 showed that there was only 100 of these left in the wild. They are native to the southern regions of Spain and are also known as the Spanish Lynx. These are one of the many wild cats under watch but is the fastest species of its kind dimishing. The males grow much bigger than the females some cases three times bigger. The female is fully grown at 9.5 kgs while the male can grow up to 27 kgs. Its apperance is more of a domestic cat rather than the other kinds of its species. It has a cats face with side burns and large ears and longer whiskers.

Because of its smaller size than the rest of its kind it hunts smaller animals like rats, mice, ferrets and shru and wouldnt attempt to kill anything bigger than itself. They are a shy animal and pose little or no threat to humans. A male would only need to eat one rabbit a day while a female bearing young would have to consume three. Even though the ban has been in place to stop hunting them and their habitat preserved their numbers are still dropping. There were 400 in the wild when counted in 2000 and only 100 remain today. If these were to go extinct they would be the first big cat to go in the last 10,000 years where the SMILODON became extinct… The what ??? exactly my point.

The Baiji Dolphin

Image via Wikipeida

This is the rarest dolphin that inhabit our planet only tens of these are left and they are looking straight at extinction. Due to the over fishing of China and Japan where they eat these dolphins the BAIJI dolphin has been pushed to the limit and will ultimatley be extinct in the next ten to fifteen years. These are fresh and salt water dolphins and the only reason that these are going extinct is human slaughter. They swim up river and get caught in nets under bridges and dams that have been built to trap them. Sceientists have only counted thirty of these dolphins in the last year and are desperatley searching for more. China has drivin all of this dolphins sub species over the edge of extinction and are not going to stop there either. There are very little laws in China or Japan to protect these animals and they will keep doing it regardless what the international protection groups say.