Imagine the American Great Seal, but with a Dodo. The pudgy, large-beaked, flightless bird, carries one fistful of arrows and an olive branch. The banner carrying the words E Pluribus Unum is drooping sadly out of the greenish beak. Or maybe replace the dodo with a velociraptor. Or a Western Black Rhino. All of these stories have sad endings, with the dodo and velociraptor going extinct thousands of years ago. But extinction isn’t something that happened to the dinos and the dodo birds. The Western Black Rhino went extinct just a few years ago, in 2011. Poaching, mostly, and lack of local drive to end poaching, ended the presence of this beautiful creature on earth forever. This almost happened to the bald eagle. The intimidating bird of prey
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DDT, introduced as a pesticide shortly after WWII, as well as shooting and habitat loss, almost eradicated the bald eagle. Fish eating birds were most affected by the chemical, as it thinned the eggshells, causing eggs to shatter under the weight of their parents while being incubated or break while they were being laid. The DDT, originally in a low concentration, was concentrated by bioaccumulation, ensuring that the birds had a large amount of DDT in their diets. Other additions to the plight of the bald eagle are the digestion of lead (leading to lead poisoning). Lead is consumed by the consumption of carrion killed by lead shot or accidental consumption. The hunting of bald eagles was outlawed in 1940 because of how frequent the shooting of these majestic raptors was. Many farmers believed that bald eagles carried off chickens, lambs, and other domestic livestock, even though we now know that the eagle's diet consists mostly of fish and carrion. The species was reduced to only 487 nesting pairs in 1963 before being added to the endangered species list in 1978. 487 may seem like a lot of birds, but, compared to the current 70,000 bald eagles in North America, one sees the truth of how close we came to losing this …show more content…
The American Eagle Foundation (AEF) has done a huge amount to keep our feathered friends around. The eagle’s eggs are taken and measured by scientists, and they are tested for viability (whether or not they carry chicks). The eggs are replaced with wooden eggs ( or are not replaced at all). This way, if the parents don’t stress over losing eggs (they can’t tell the difference) and the eggs can be raised in optimal conditions for the health of the chicks. Sometimes, the nests without eggs are laid in again by the parents, yielding more eaglets. Young eagles are kept in a ‘Hack Tower’ where they can grow up without human contact (If a young eagle associates humans with food, they could starve upon release because they don’t realize they have to fish for
DDT, introduced as a pesticide shortly after WWII, as well as shooting and habitat loss, almost eradicated the bald eagle. Fish eating birds were most affected by the chemical, as it thinned the eggshells, causing eggs to shatter under the weight of their parents while being incubated or break while they were being laid. The DDT, originally in a low concentration, was concentrated by bioaccumulation, ensuring that the birds had a large amount of DDT in their diets. Other additions to the plight of the bald eagle are the digestion of lead (leading to lead poisoning). Lead is consumed by the consumption of carrion killed by lead shot or accidental consumption. The hunting of bald eagles was outlawed in 1940 because of how frequent the shooting of these majestic raptors was. Many farmers believed that bald eagles carried off chickens, lambs, and other domestic livestock, even though we now know that the eagle's diet consists mostly of fish and carrion. The species was reduced to only 487 nesting pairs in 1963 before being added to the endangered species list in 1978. 487 may seem like a lot of birds, but, compared to the current 70,000 bald eagles in North America, one sees the truth of how close we came to losing this …show more content…
The American Eagle Foundation (AEF) has done a huge amount to keep our feathered friends around. The eagle’s eggs are taken and measured by scientists, and they are tested for viability (whether or not they carry chicks). The eggs are replaced with wooden eggs ( or are not replaced at all). This way, if the parents don’t stress over losing eggs (they can’t tell the difference) and the eggs can be raised in optimal conditions for the health of the chicks. Sometimes, the nests without eggs are laid in again by the parents, yielding more eaglets. Young eagles are kept in a ‘Hack Tower’ where they can grow up without human contact (If a young eagle associates humans with food, they could starve upon release because they don’t realize they have to fish for