APES Endangered Species Newsletter
Species You've Never Seen
This newsletter is about endangered species and their extinction. I have three different species in this newsletter.
Black-Faced impala
The Black-faced Impala is a subspecies of the impala native to Angola and Namibia. It is not hard to tell it apart from the common impala, being significantly larger and having a black facial marking. It is also found in different locations than the common impala. While the species as a whole is not endangered, this subspecies has come close to extinction. In 1968–1971, 310 individuals were transferred to Etosha National Park for better protection, and their number is steadily increasing. However, the current population is still less than 1000 and possible interbreeding with the common impala from nearby farms may be damaging to the gene pool.
Venus Flytrap
An elementary school favorite, the venus flytrap is cultivated in nurseries for sale as a house plant, but very few are left in the wild. Flytraps grow in a hundred-mile radius along the coast of North and South Carolina, and are considered endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. North Carolina officials have arrested poachers and levied fines against thieves who have stolen flytraps to sell on the black market. Their selling price? As little as ten cents each.
California Red-Legged Frog
California red-legged frogs are the largest native frogs in the western United States. Despite their robust size, the frogs have disappeared from over 70% of their former range. Reasons for decline include habitat destruction and degradation; invasive predators such as bullfrogs, crayfish and mosquitofish; contamination of freshwater habitats; and disease. These handsome frogs are distinguished by reddish-brown to salmon pink coloration, jaunty dark tiger striping on their legs and a pungent, garlicky odor when they are handled. Large females are capable of catching and consuming prey as large as mice and small frogs, though their primary food source is invertebrates. In December-April, timing dependent on the breeding location, males emit a low, burbling, chuckling call in ponds and slow streams to attract females for mating. The result is a grapefruit-sized egg mass attached to emergent vegetation that contains about 2,000 eggs. These eggs hatch into tadpoles that will spend the summer eating plant matter and detritus until they are large enough to metamorphose, generally in the late summer. Ways to help conserve these frogs and other natives include protecting local wetlands, allowing wetlands to follow natural inundation and drying schedules and spreading the word that non-natives should not be released into the wild.