HABITAT LOSS
POLLUTION
COMPETITION FROM OTHER SPECIES
Sometimes there are just too many animals living in an area that compete for the space, water and food that is found there. For example, in NJ, a large population of raccoons (which turned out to have a parasitic disease) threatened the last remaining population of woodrats in NJ.
DISEASE
DISEASE
By our definition, diseases occur naturally. We are not talking about diseases that animals get because of pesticides or pollution. It is a part of nature that animals get diseases. But sometimes humans introduce diseases and problems into a species. The most publicized example is DDT. An insecticide that was used all over the U.S., it was found in water & soil and eventually worked its way up the food chain from small water feeders to the fish who ate the plant life in the water and the animals and humans who ate the fish! When DDT was left into the water it eventually broke down and became DDE. These toxic substances (along with others like PCB's) caused eagles and peregrine falcons to produce eggs that had shells so thin that they broke just from the mother sitting on them.
PREDATION
PREDATION
Predators are species that hunt other species as their way of getting food. For example, a peregrine falcon will kill small rodents (like mice & voles) and even kill other birds to get food. This is natural and expected. There are no predators that cause extinctions in NJ and none that we could find in our research - unless humans had changed the predators or introduced other predator species.
UNREGULATED OR ILLEGAL KILLING
Hunting and fishing is strictly regulated in the United States. In New Jersey, the agency in charge of it is the Department of Environmental Protection. Their Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife makes the regulations that protect species from being over hunted. When people disobey those laws, the state's law enforcement officers' job is to arrest them and make sure they are prosecuted by the courts and forced to pay fines or go to jail. Sometimes this killing is due to ignorance about species - as in the case of bats and snakes. The bobolink's story is a good example of unregulated killing, as is the better publicized story of whale hunting.
INTRODUCED SPECIES
When the state of New Jersey RE-introduces a species, such as the wild turkey, bald eagle, or bobcat, they do so after careful scientific studies. They also will monitor that species to make sure it does not endanger other animals. The wild turkey is a good example of a species that NJ has successfully re-introduced into the state as a game species and the bald eagle is a good nongame species example.
UNREGULATED OR ILLEGAL KILLING
Hunting and fishing is strictly regulated in the United States. In New Jersey, the agency in charge of it is the Department of Environmental Protection. Their Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife makes the regulations that protect species from being over hunted. When people disobey those laws, the state's law enforcement officers' job is to arrest them and make sure they are prosecuted by the courts and forced to pay fines or go to jail. Sometimes this killing is due to ignorance about species - as in the case of bats and snakes. The bobolink's story is a good example of unregulated killing, as is the better publicized story of whale hunting.
INTRODUCED SPECIES
When the state of New Jersey RE-introduces a species, such as the wild turkey, bald eagle, or bobcat, they do so after careful scientific studies. They also will monitor that species to make sure it does not endanger other animals. The wild turkey is a good example of a species that NJ has successfully re-introduced into the state as a game species and the bald eagle is a good nongame species example.
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