National Parks in the United States Many areas of North and South America are now protected as national parks This means that there are strict limits on any changes that can be made to the natural environment It may be forbidden to cut down trees drain wetlands or build towns on areas of grassland for example Some preserves cover shorelines and areas of oceans giving protection to whales fish and nesting turtles In the United States the National Park Service was set up in 1916 in an effort to preserve wildlife habitats for the enjoyment of future generations However the world’s first national park at Yellowstone was established as long ago as 1872 to protect among other things populations of American bison bobcats mountain lions beavers sandhill cranes and cutthroat trout Yosemite National Park in California straddles the Sierra Nevada Mountains and has more than 250 species of fish amphibians reptiles birds and mammals In the same state Death Valley National Park is one of the hottest and driest places on Earth This desert preserve has herds of bighorn sheep as well as bobcats mountain lions and many snakes and lizards and a surprising number of different species of birds In contrast the Everglades National Park in Florida is very wet with an ample supply of fresh water and important populations of water birds snapping turtles American alligators and Florida panthers of them rare More than 1,700 bird species live there almost one in five of all those found on Earth 600 of these are found nowhere else This is also the most important area on the planet for amphibians with 980 species known most of them found in the Andes and nowhere else There are surely many more species of frogs and salamanders yet to be discovered And there are probably thousands of invertebrates that scientists have yet to describe In some areas deforestation has been a problem although forests on the steepest slopes have mainly been left untouched The Amazon To the east the Amazon rain forest is probably the single most important region for animals anywhere on Earth It is as large as the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean and its trees are home to a bewildering array of invertebrates birds and mammals Fish and amphibians live in its mighty rivers including the Amazon itself while reptiles occupy river banks and the forest itself However large swaths of the forest have been cleared for highways human settlements and cattle ranches This deforestation accelerated after 1972 when the Trans Amazonian Highway was opened allowing developers to reach deeper into the forest Between 1991 and 2000 the total area of Amazon forest that had been 6 cleared increased from 160,000 square miles 415,000 km2 to 227,000 square miles 587,000 km2 roughly the size of the Canadian province of Manitoba Most of this forest was replaced with pasture for cattle and many species of wild animals lost their homes The total area of forest is now thought to be only four fifths of its size in 1970 The good news is that the rate of clearance slowed dramatically after 2004 and there are important protected areas such as Tumucumaque National Park in northern Brazil which is the biggest area of protected tropical forest in the world Not all of South America is covered by forests Also important are the continent’s wetlands Those of the Llanos in Venezuela are flooded in the wet season when they are important for giant anteaters caimans anacondas and many wading birds Farther south in Brazil the Pantanal wetlands also have wading birds and several species of cats Grasslands are also important South of the Amazon rain forest where the climate is too dry for forest growth is the cerrado of Brazil with animals such as giant armadillo maned wolf jaguar puma and many reptiles In Argentina the great expanses of the pampas grasslands support endangered pampas deer and pampas cats San Rafael waterfall in Ecuador is surrounded by rain forest that is home to animals both common and endangered
HABITATS THREATS AND CONSERVATION 7
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC O Giant Anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla Populations of the largest species of anteater have been in decline for much of their recorded history Loss of habitat has been the most significant threat T he giant anteater leads a highly specialized way of life It feeds mainly on colonies of large ants which it collects with its specially adapted mouth and tongue However when it tracks down an ant nest teeming with potential food the animal does not dive in and gorge Instead it breaks open a small section of the nest using its powerful 4-inch 10 cm long claws dips its long snout into the hole and extracts a couple of hundred ants with its long bristly tongue Often after less than a minute’s feeding time it moves on leaving the remaining ants to repair the damaged nest wall In this way the ant colony continues to prosper and there is always plenty of food when the anteater or one of its neighbors returns to the nest to feed again The giant anteater has thus developed a sustainable way of exploiting its major food source A single anteater may have a home range of several thousand acres and will travel widely in the course of a day or night anteaters can be active at any time depending on the season and the weather The ranges of neighboring anteaters overlap considerably but the animals rarely meet and if they do they seem to ignore each other Giant anteaters leave scent marks but they use them more as a means of communication than as a territorial warning
Threatened Existence Violence between anteaters is rare and they usually choose to flee from danger rather than to fight it Nevertheless they are more than capable of defending themselves against attack from other animals The anteater’s main enemies other than people are jaguars and pumas However even for such accomplished predators an attack on an anteater is no easy undertaking The anteater’s long claws and hugely powerful forelegs are formidable weapons capable of inflicting serious injury or even killing with a suffocating squeeze The anteater’s armory is no match for a shotgun or rifle however and unregulated hunting by trophy hunters has had a significant effect on the population The anteater’s claws are so long that the animal has to walk on its knuckles and the outsides of its wrists to prevent its claws from scraping on the ground Anteaters can move surprisingly well in this way but they are not able to run fast Their lack of speed makes them vulnerable to hunters and at times to forest fires The anteater’s long shaggy fur is highly flammable so there are always dead animals after a major fire To compound the problem breeding rates are slow and there is a prolonged period of care for the young so populations take a long time to recover from any losses Giant anteaters are easily recognizable by their size and the distinctive dark stripe with white edges that runs from the chest onto both flanks Their individu al hairs are curious being banded in black and white A mother carries her single pup on her back for the first few months of its life GIANT ANTEATER DATA PANEL Giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla Family Myrmecophagidae World population Unknown possibly tens of thousands Distribution Central and South America from southern Belize and Guatemala to Argentina with populations in Brazil Colombia Costa Rica French Guiana Peru Paraguay and Venezuela Habitat Low-lying grasslands and open forests sometimes ventures into dense vegetation Size Length head body 39 47 in 100 120 cm tail 26 36 in 65 90 cm males 10 20 bigger than females Weight 39 86 lb 18 39 kg Form Bulky body distinctive tapered narrow snout Gray-brown fur long on legs and tail white bordered dark band tapers from chest to flank over each shoulder Eyes and ears small Long narrow tongue can be extended up to 24 in 60 cm Diet Ants termites and their eggs grubs and cocoons occasionally beetle larvae and fruit Breeding Single young born at any time of year after gestation of 6 7 months fully weaned at 6 months but may remain with mother for up to 2 years mature at 3 years Life span up to 26 years in captivity Related endangered species No close relatives but other species of South American anteaters for example pygmy anteater Clyclopes didactylus are scarce and becoming more so with deforestation Status IUCN VU The giant anteater depends for its survival on large areas of undisturbed habitat with plenty of suitable food It does well in national parks and reserves but elsewhere it is becoming scarce Plowing for crops destroys ant colonies and inevitably affects the anteater’s food supplies The apparently wide distribution of the giant anteater from Central America to northern Argentina is misleading Within this range populations are small spread out and often isolated in small islands of suitable habitat The species is not yet at the brink of extinction but unless steps are taken to secure its habitat the future of the giant anteater will be in crisis 9
