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Tours
Title: Endangered Species
Goal: to define endangered, threatened, and extinct; list 5 reasons animals become extinct; reasons why
humans should conserve animals; ways students can help preserve endangered species.
Biofacts to bring: Cane toad; Reptile skin boots; bald eagle talons; Pere David Deer antler; orangutan skull;
snake skin, palm oil shopping guides
Background:
CITES: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna: Its aim is to
ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival and it
accords varying degrees of protection to more than 33,000 species of animals and plants.
Definitions:
THREATENED: any species (including animals, plants, fungi, insects,
bugs, etc.) which are
vulnerable to extinction in the near future.
ENDANGERED: a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct in all or part of its
natural range because it is either few in number, or threatened by changing
environmental or
predation parameters
EXTINCT: any species that is no longer in existence in all or part of its natural range
*An animal can be extinct in the wild but NOT in captivity.*
Animals become extinct because:
1. Poaching: illegal hunting of animals for fur or parts
2. Loss of habitat: urban encroachment, diverted waterways, cutting of forests
3. Pollution: water, land, or air
4. Pet Trade
5. Introduced/Evasive/non-native species
SSP: Species Survival Plan- a special breeding program that takes the most diverse animals in captivity and
pairs them up with purpose of eventually releasing future generations back into wild
*Symbol for an SSP animal is a mother and baby rhino! Look for them on signs throughout the zoo.
Reasons we should conserve animals:
1. Aesthetic/Spiritual Value
2. Food Source
3. Pest Control
4. Medical Uses
5. Maintain Ecosystems
In the Zoo:
TRUMPETER SWANS: Habitat Loss, Hunting
 SSP Animal
 North America’s largest bird species
 Name comes from loud calls they make
 Too heavy to take flight easily, must run across water to attain airspeed
 Once nested all across northern N. America but reduced to 65 birds in 1930’s, only a few left in
Yellowstone and Alaska
 Live in wetlands that are being drained and used to build homes/buildings
 Also hunted for their beautiful feathers and meat extensively in late 1800s and early 1900s.
 Young are very susceptible to lead poisoning
 Successful conservation effort has restored species to much of its former range
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Memphis Zoo has partnered with Iowa DNR to release birds hatched here into Iowa. Been very
successful.
How students can help: Educate others, prevent poaching, avoid pollution, dispose of chemicals
properly, recycling
LOUISIANA PINE SNAKE: Habitat loss
 Rarest snake in US, less than 250 left in the wild
 Lives in 6 tiny fragments of pine forests in western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Some of these areas
are only as big as a few city blocks; forests being cut for trees
 Like to eat pocket gophers in wild (eats mice/rats at zoo); habitat is being lost to pocket gopher, too- no
food for snakes = no snakes!
 Lays largest eggs of any N. American snake, so does not lay many at once compared to most snakes
 If threatened they mimic a rattlesnake by shaking their tail which produces a faint rattling sound as it
comes into contact with debris; they also will open mouth hiss
 So Far the Memphis Zoo has released 19 captive bred snakes that have radio transmitters back into
the LA piney forests.
 How students can help: Use less paper, recycle, educate others
LESSER ANTILLES IGUANAS: Introduced/non-native species/Habitat Destruction
 Many Green Iguanas are bought as pets while they are still under a foot long, but released into wild
once they get too big (6 feet long) or become hard to handle; then they eat native Florida vegetation,
and compete for food with native Florida animals (anacondas and caimans released, too, eating local
mammals, etc)
 Lesser Antilles Iguana is darker in color than green iguanas and lacks the large round scale below each
ear.
 They are found in woodlands, rainforest and mangrove swamps on islands in the Caribbean (Anguilla,
St. Martin, St. Eustatius, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and Martinique).
 Lesser Antilles it is in severe decline due to habitat destruction, non-native predators, hunting, and
interbreeding with its sister species the Green iguana.
 Herbivores - feeding on leaves, flowers, fruit, and growing shoots of upwards of 100 different species of
plant
 Memphis Zoo is the only zoo that displays these iguanas in the US.
 How Students can help: Avoid buying exotic animals for pets, there are many dogs and cats that need
good homes – If you are going to get an exotic pet do your homework so there are no surprises down
the road and make sure the store gets these animals not out of the wild but from breeding facilities here
in the US
DART FROGS: Pollution; indicator species
 AZA 2008 – YEAR of the FROG – promote amphibian conservation
 Important as an Indicator Species – indicate if pollution in an area because they breath through their
skin and are very susceptible to any pollution
 Also, important insect eaters and control their numbers
 6,000 Amphibians are threatened by global warming, pollution and due to a fungal disease called
chytrid (KIT-rid) that is rapidly spreading; 100 species have gone extinct in last 20 years
 Central and South America – usually found in tropical rainforest
 called poison arrow frogs or poison dart frogs due to indigenous peoples' use of their toxic excretions to
poison the tips of arrows and blow darts
 over 175 species but only 3 species are toxic enough to be used by indigenous people
 not venomous – they must be touched and often swallowed to cause injury
 captive dart frogs are often not poisonous because scientist think that the poison comes from toxic
plants that insects feed on and are then transferred to the frogs
 most are brightly colored to warn animals that they are poisonous
 eat ants, termites, small beetles, house crickets, fruit flies, spring tails, wax worms, spiders and other
tiny bugs without backbones
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How students can help: Recycling, Avoid pesticides/insecticides that can hurt other animals, Picking up
litter, Use products that are environmentally friendly especially when camping, educate others, make
your backyard wildlife friendly
PERE DAVID DEER: Natural disaster
 Bucky (M;5/1/99), 3 adult females, Karen – female born 8/06
 Born 2007 – Frisbee. Justin, Seth (all male)
 Shed antlers 1 – 2 times a year. *Bucky broke one of his antlers off pass the growth plate so it will
never regrow.
 Live 20 yrs in captivity
 Went extinct in the wild in early 1900s due to over hunting during the Boxer Rebellion and natural
flooding. A French Missionary, Father Armand David, to China in 1800s helped the deer get
international recognition and a small herd was sent to European countries for exhibits and breeding.
Remaining herd was loss due to heavy flooding. All Pere David Deer are descendants from those sent
to Europe and in 1980s two herds were reintroduced to Nan Haizi Milu Park, Beijing, and Dafeng
Reserve, Jiangsu Province.
 How students can help: By visiting the zoo you help to preserve animals for the future. Educate others.
BONTEBOKS: Habitat loss
 In 1930’s only 20 or so left in wild due to habitat loss
 Once extensively hunted and pushed out of its habitat by European settlement; were reduced to a wild
population of just 17 animals that were protected on private farmland & later translocated to Bontebok
National Park established to protect bonteboks, but the species has since recovered to about 3,000
individuals, 200 of which are sustained in the park
 SSP Animal
 One of the first conservation efforts!
 Bontebok head is the symbol for endangered species
 How students can help: By visiting the zoo you contribute money to help preserve these animals for the
future. Educate others.
ORANGUTANS: Habitat loss; pet trade
*TAKE SHOPPING GUIDE: PALM OIL PLANTS to handout to students that provides companies that are
doing sustainable palm oil production.
 Sumatran Orangutans – Endangered
 Chickie (F;5/24/77), Tombak (M;5/5/81) 250 lbs
 SSP Animal, not breeding Chickie and Tombak
7th-12th Grade Only
 Breeding is not SSP recommended for Chickie and Tombak therefore, she is on birth control.
 Only found in two places: Borneo and Sumatra
 Only Great Apes in Asia, rely on rainforest for food and shelter
 Sleep in nests in trees, make new nest each night
 Give birth only every 5-7 years because young grow slowly and need extra care
 Companies are cutting down forest for palm oil plantations, palm oil is in African Palm Oil plants and
used in a number of foods and soaps (popcorn, chips, crackers, and more), due to poor rainforest soil
companies have to cut down more forest ever 2-3 years to grow new plants
 What students can do: Buying products from sustainable palm oil companies helps the orangutans.
Sustainable companies reuse the land by finding ways to put nutrients back in the soil so that they do
not have to clear new land. However, we should not totally boycott palm oil because it is how the
people of those islands survive.
 Fruits, leaves, bark, insects
 Up to 600 lbs
 Adults live alone, no social interaction
 Males have throat pouch for roaring – can be heard ½ mile away
Alternate Animals and Exhibits:
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Boa constrictors and pythons: for skins, pet trade, and non-native species
Panda: habitat loss
Tigers: habitat loss, poaching
Bald eagle: Pollution (DDT in water, ingested by fish)
Chaco tortoise: pet trade
Kinkajou, porcupine: habitat loss