Observing National Endangered Species Day 🐘
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Season 2: Episode 116 Description
In today's episode: 🐘 Did you know there are over 40,000 endangered species of plants and animals? 😟That's a lot of plants and animals needing help, and with there being so many, sometimes it feels like we aren't making much progress. 🙌 But, don't worry because Correspondent Ryan Nerz is here today with a few success stories about species brought back from the brink of extinction. And, test your animal extinction knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
10 extinct giants that once roamed North America | Live Science
Woolly Mammoths’ Extinction In Canada Happened Just 5,000 Years Ago (allthatsinteresting.com)
Pyramids of Giza | National Geographic
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TRANSCRIPT:
Ryan Willard 0:07
Nants’ ingonyama, bakithi, baba. Sithi hu ‘ngonyama.. It's the circle of life.
Bethany Van Delft 0:14
Ryan, what on earth are these animals doing in here?
Ryan Willard 0:18
Obviously celebrating these endangered species, we should talk about them.
Bethany Van Delft 0:22
Ryan, you can't have animals in the Ten News studio. We have a show to record.
Ryan Willard 0:27
But they're so cool. Oh, gosh. I made a huge mistake. It smells like hot garbage. Come on, animal friends.
Bethany Van Delft 0:43
Okay, are you curious about endangered species? Well, we're going to talk about it the right way. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Thursday, May 19th. And this is the Ten News.
Various Voices 0:55
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 1:02
May 28th is endangered species day. With over 40,000 species of plants and animals that need our help. It can feel like we're not getting anywhere. But there are success stories of species brought back from the brink of extinction. Here to tell us more is Ten News Correspondent Ryan Nerz.
Ryan Nerz 1:24
Endangered Species day may not have the fun reputation of say, a Halloween or St. Patrick's Day. And I'll admit, the thought of a species almost going extinct doesn't exactly make me want to break out the kazoos. But, but maybe it should. How about we flip the script and talk about the inspiring side of this holiday? Let's talk about the Endangered Species success stories. I'm talking about the peregrine falcon, the Karner Blue butterfly, and the Delmarva fox squirrel. I'm talking about species that have come back from the brink of extinction to survive and thrive. So sit back and grab a snack because I'm going to introduce you to five fascinating animals that thanks to us humans helping them out have been an officially unnamed danger. Now we're talking first up about the most American of all American animals the majestic bald eagle. It's no big deal, you know, just a bird of prey with an eight-foot wingspan that swoops down from up to 10,000 feet in the air flying up 100 miles an hour, and then snatches up unsuspecting fish and its talents. Well in the mid-1960s Bald Eagles which aren't actually bald, but have a little tuft of white head feathers were driven to the brink of extinction. The culprit was a disgusting pesticide once used by farmers called DDT. DDT thinned the Eagle’s eggshells, killing off their cute little chicks before they even were born. But not anymore. In 1962, Rachel Carson's conservation book Silent Spring exposed the horrible effects of DDT. political pressure mounted until the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT in 1972. Thanks to that ban, and captive breeding efforts, the bald eagle has returned to patrolling American skies. It was taken off the endangered species list in 2007. And today, there are over 1500 Eagle mating pairs. Well, man, I'm already worn out, but I can't stop now. This next story is so great. Have you heard about the Kirtland warbler? That's number two on our list. It's this cute little yellow bird that almost went extinct for the most interesting reason, a different bird. The parasitic brown-headed cowbird started laying its eggs and the nests of Kirtland warblers. And the Warblers got all confused and couldn't raise their own chicks successfully. The Conservation has launched a Cal bird removal effort in 1972. Sure enough, as the caliber disappeared, the curtains warblers were able to raise their own chicks and they started to thrive. And today, the Kirtland warbler is back baby. All right, number three. Now, another cute animal that faces down an invasive species and is almost lost is the Moniteau Gecko, a tiny lizard with a huge success story. These little big-eyed creatures are only found on the island of monito off the coast of Puerto Rico. That is until the rats came along. That's right A horde of black rats spread across monito like a plague gobbling up geckos along the way. In the 1990s, Puerto Rican conservation officials launched what they called a black rat eradication program. And by 2014, the island was totally rat-free. Soon enough, the monito Gecko was taken off the endangered species list. Today, there are almost 8000 of geckos on the island. Yes, but not every endangered species has such a simple solution. Unlike those warblers and geckos, green sea turtles face so many dangers, they almost disappeared entirely. Oh man, and that's why they're number four on the list. In 1990, the population of green sea turtles was 50 total in the world. All of them lived at a wildlife refuge on Florida's east coast. But green sea turtles are as cute as they are tough. They're exposed to all kinds of threats from the destruction of beach habitat to getting tangled up in fishing care. In the 1990s, the Environmental Defense Fund worked with fishermen to create special nets that release sea turtles through a trap door while still collecting shrimp. Thanks to this special net and protection of their beaches. The green sea turtle population has gone from 50 turtles to more than 24,000 nests today. Oh, yeah. Okay, moving along. From the very small to the very, very big. And by big, I mean 60 feet long and 60,000 pounds. This is the last on our list of five fascinating animals. I'm talking about the humpback whale. These magnificent mammals are known for their acrobatic leaps from the sea, and their complex singing patterns, which sound a little something like this. But by the 1960s that song probably sounded pretty sad because humpback whales were almost hunted to extinction. By 1965, there were only 1200 humpbacks left. The turning point was an international ban on commercial whale hunting, which took effect in 1966. Thanks to that ban, humpback whales have made a total turnaround. There are over 21,000 humpbacks today. We may have many more challenges to go. But it's important to recognize that we humans can help turn the tide of animal species that are struggling to survive from enormous whales to tiny geckos. conservationists have helped save the existence of dozens of animals. So on that note, I'm here to wish you a very happy and Endangered Species Day.
Bethany Van Delft 7:59
Isn't it so nice to hear good news about endangered species? Thanks, Ryan. Ten'ers Memorial Day is coming up and we want to hear from you. Send us a thank you note to our service members, and we'll play them on our Memorial Day episode. Visit thetennews.com/contact. And, now here to give us the news rundown is our head writer Ryan Willard.
Ryan Willard 8:34
Ryan Willard here with your rundown. I think we're getting a special transmission from our friends at the Seattle podcast. Let me see if I can.
Seattle Podcast 8:47
Hello from the Pacific Northwest, Patricia Murphy here. Ryan is letting us take over today's rundown for this special update about how the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle is making it easier for animals who need medical care like vaccines. Awesome. Yep, animals need vaccines too. And as I'm sure you can imagine, when it comes to giving a 180-pound Tiger at Woodland Park Zoo an injection, there's not a lot of room for error. animal keepers used to use a blow dart. But now here in Seattle and at a handful of other zoos in the US. They're using distraction to help animals like that 180-pound Tiger get used to the sensation of being poked for a second and not mind it so much. It all starts with a spray bottle of tasty evaporated milk and water and something kind of pokey but not sharp like chopsticks. One keeper will spray some evaporated milk and water at the tiger and while it's busy licking the milk from its snout. Another keeper gives it a little poke in the rump with that chopstick the training goes on. Treat poke, treat poke, the objects get sharper, and one day it's a needle with a vaccine if The animal doesn't participate willingly, the keepers stop and that builds trust. keepers say this more empathetic approach is less stressful for the animals in their care. And they hope it will lead to other new ways to give captive animals a better experience in exchange for the education. They provide visitors. That's the update from Seattle. I'm Patricia Murphy. Thanks for having us. Back to you Ryan.
Ryan Willard 10:29
Well, that was unexpected and awesome. Thank you for the info Patricia. You can check out Seattle now on all podcast platforms. Back to you, Bethany.
Bethany Van Delft 10:41
What's that over there? I think it's a...
Various Voices 10:44
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 10:47
Trivia on the Ten. One thing we do not want to happen to endangered species is extinction. There are hundreds and thousands of amazing creatures that once roamed the earth but are now extinct. Do you know which now extinct animal walked the earth while the pyramids were being built? Is it a) giant beavers b) ground sloths or c) woolly mammoths? Did you guess it? The answer is c) woolly mammoths. Woolly mammoths were rambling around Siberia, even northern Canada until around 2000 BCE. The Great Pyramid was built in Giza about 500 years before that. Wow. Well, that's our show. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is trying to walk like woolly mammoths and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard Adam Barnard, and Tessa Flannery. Ryan Nerz contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft and thanks for listening to the Ten News. Yeah, i've been learning humpback. That's a happy Endangered Species Day, to you.
