American Peregrine Falcon
In 1988, at a site now inundated by Greers Ferry Lake, peregrine falcons reared
their young. Over a century passed before fledgling peregrines returned to Arkansas. s6c5cp
In June 1993, an environmental team flew to Minnesota and picked up five fledgling
falcons. These birds were given a new home at the Arkansas Power & Light
Company power station on the White River in Independence County. They were acclimated
to their new area in a hacking station 300 feet above the ground, then released
when ready to fly. Three birds survived and were often seen flying near the
White and Black rivers.
In 1994, six more Minnesota peregrines were released from a hacking station
atop the TCBY Tower in Little Rock, Arkansas's tallest building. It is hoped
the relocated falcons will imprint on their new homeland and return to nest
on permanent structures built for their use. Reintroductions like these have
worked successfully in many other parts of the U.S., thanks in part to falconers
who have raised thousands of peregrines in captivity for eventual release.
Although peregrines live on every continent except Antarctica, they are always
rare. In Arkansas, they're most likely to be seen from mid-September through
mid-May in southern lowlands.
The peregrine's recent history holds a cautionary tale. In the 1950s and '60s,
these magnificent birds were nearly wiped out when their food chain was contaminated
with pesticides, primarily DDT. All 275 known nesting sites in the eastern U.
S. were deserted by 1964. To our good fortune, however, they were saved from
extinction. There are now more than 1,200 pairs in North America, a four-fold
increase in the last 20 years.
Unfortunately, we still have not roused ourselves to face the real enemy. DDT
and other persistent pesticides continue to be manufactured and exported to
the Third World, and the chemicals currently used in Western countries may be
almost as deadly. Many contend we must change agricultural practices on a global
scale; only then will we be heeding the message of hope the falcon brings.
Bald Eagle
In 1994, America's efforts to save endangered species reached a milestone with
the announcement by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the bald eagle
had recovered sufficiently to change its status from endangered to threatened
in most of the nation. Bald eagle numbers in the lower 48 states climbed from
417 nesting pairs in 1963 to more than 4,400 pairs in 1994. In addition, 5,000
to 6,000 juvenile bald eagles live in the lower 48. Federal protection and tremendous
public support led to this recovery -- through stricter law enforcement, protection
of important habitat, reintroduction, a strong public education program and
banning of DDT, a pesticide that interfered with normal eggshell production.
The first successful bald eagle nesting since 1930 was reported in Arkansas
in 1982. In 1995, 18 pairs of Arkansas eagles successfully fledged young from
the nest. An eagle hacking program started by the Game and Fish Commission in
1982 contributed to this resurgence. Young eagles from Minnesota and Wisconsin
are brought to the state, raised in "hacking" facilities and released
in hopes they will return to raise their young in Arkansas.
Arkansas ranks in the top 10 states in the number of winter bald eagle sightings.
Over 1,000 bald eagles are counted each winter, nearly triple the 368 recorded
in 1979.
Gray Bat
The gray bat's range is concentrated in the cave regions of Arkansas, Missouri,
Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, with occasional colonies and individuals in
adjacent states. The population is estimated at more than 1.5 million; however,
about 95 percent hibernate in only eight caves -- two in Tennessee, three in
Missouri, and one each in Kentucky, Alabama and Arkansas. This makes the population
extremely vulnerable.
Gray bat numbers decreased significantly during recent decades -- 61 percent
in Arkansas, 89 percent in Kentucky, 81 percent in Missouri and 76 percent in
Tennessee and Alabama. The population is now on the upswing, though, as a result
of improved breeding success due to better protection measures such as cave
gates, fences and informational signs near caves.
One Arkansas hibernation cave houses about 250,000 gray bats, over 15 percent
of the total population. About 150,000 gray bats occupy Arkansas caves in summer.
People who disturb hibernation and maternity colonies present one of the greatest
threats. Maternity colonies won't tolerate any disturbance, especially when
flightless newborn young are present. Thousands of baby bats may be dropped
to their deaths or abandoned by panicked parents. If aroused during hibernation,
bats increase use of stored fat reserves, and if the disturbance is intense
or frequent enough, starvation may result before insects are available in spring.
Other factors in the species' decline include vandalism, cave commercialization,
pesticide poisoning, natural calamities such as flooding and cave-ins, loss
of caves due to inundation by man-made impoundments and possibly a reduction
of insect prey over streams that have been degraded by excessive pollution and
siltation
Indiana Bat
These small brown bats are known for their remarkable hibernation clusters.
Each bat hangs by its feet from the cave ceiling, and as many as 480 have been
counted in a single square foot.
Indiana bats range throughout much of the eastern U. S. They number less than
400,000. More than 85 percent hibernate at only seven locations --tow caves
and a mine in Missouri, two caves in Indiana and two caves in Kentucky.
A marked decline has been reported in Arkansas populations. Indianas no longer
visit 10 caves where they previously hibernated. A Newton County cave that once
contained 7,000 hibernating Indiana bats now shelters less than 200.
Currently, only eight Arkansas caves house more than 30 Indianas during their
winter hibernation period (October to April). The present Arkansas population
(less than 3,000) is half the 1981 size.
The total U. S. population dropped more than 34 percent since 1983. The decline
is attributed to commercialization of roosting caves, killing by vandals, disturbances
caused by increased numbers of spelunkers and bat banding programs, use of bats
as laboratory experimental animals and possible insecticide poisoning. Some
winter hibernacula are unstable as a result of blocking or impeding airflow
into the caves and thereby changing the cave's climate.
One Arkansas hibernation cave was fenced by the National Park Service to protect
Indiana and gray bats. Four additional hibernation caves in the Ozark National
Forest and one on Buffalo National River lands are closed to the public and
posted with signs to protect bat colonies. Protecting these caves may result
in an increase in bat populations at these caves, but experts say it's unlikely
Indiana bats will recolonize abandoned caves.
Only male Indiana bats have been found in Arkansas during summer. Females migrate
northward to maternity roosts north of the Ozarks.
Ozark Big-Eared Bat
This bat is aptly named, for its ears are of comic-book proportions. They're
usually curled when the animal rests, like miniature ram's horns. Lump-nosed
bat is another common name, a reference to a conspicuous protuberance between
the nostril and eye.
About 1,700 Ozark big-eareds remain. Approximately 1,400 inhabit a few caves
in eastern Oklahoma. The rest live in two Arkansas caves -- a hibernation cave
and a nearby maternity cave in the Ozarks. A Missouri population is now considered
extinct.
Human disturbance and wanton killing at caves are the primary reasons for their
endangered status. Predation at cave entrances by feral house cats, raccoons,
screech owls, bobcats and snakes may also be a factor in their decline.
Intensive efforts to protect Ozark big-eared bats in Oklahoma led the Fish and
Wildlife Service to establish the Oklahoma Bat Cave National Wildlife Refuge.
The Arkansas hibernation cave is owned and protected by the Natural Heritage
Commission, and the owner of the maternity cave has entered into an agreement
to protect that site.
Pallid Sturgeon
Little is known about the pallid sturgeon. This bottom-feeding fish reaches
68 pounds but is rarely observed and infrequently taken on hook-and-line. Even
historical records are sketchy, for the species was not formally distinguished
from the more-common shovelnose sturgeon until 1905.
Pallid sturgeons are rare throughout their range, which includes the Missouri
River and the Mississippi River below St. Louis. Only two records are known
for Arkansas, one each from the Mississippi and St. Francis rivers.
The sturgeon's decline should concern all Arkansans, because it is one indication
that big river systems like the Mississippi are sick. Creation and maintenance
of the Mississippi River as a navigation system has altered the waterway and
continues to threaten its viability as an ecosystem. Municipal wastewater discharges,
industrial pollution, agricultural runoff and sedimentation due to erosion contaminate
the river and pose a major threat tot river species. These problems threaten
pallid sturgeons and humans alike.
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
In the mid-1800s, John J. AUDUBON described the red-cockaded woodpecker as
abundant in Southern pine forests. Today, 10,000 to 14,000 remain, living in
a fragmented range in the southeastern U. S.
Unlike other woodpeckers, the red-cockaded roosts in cavities in live pines.
It needs 80 to 120-year-old pines for its cavities, and extensive pine and pine-hardwood
forests to meet its foraging requirements. Much of the Southeast has been cleared
for agriculture. Many remaining pine forests are unsuitable for the red-cockaded
woodpecker. Each year, more areas become unsuitable. Because of the drastic
loss and continued decline of habitat, the bird is endangered.
In 1994, 157 active clusters (groups of cavity trees) were found in Arkansas
--- 121 on private lands, 35 on federal land (Primarily Felsenthal NWR) and
one on state property. Most are in southern counties.
For the species to survive here, private landowners must take positive steps
to aid its recovery. Fortunately, that's beginning to happen. In 1993, the Georgia-Pacific
Company established a landmark conservation agreement with the Fish and Wildlife
Service to hall protect the woodpecker on thousands of acres of company land.
Other companies have established similar agreements. The species has also responded
favorable to artificial cavity and translocation programs.
Atlantic Salmon
The Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) is often called "The king of the river"
(which belongs to the genus Oncorhynchus)
Salmon are fish that can be two metres long and more than forty kilograms in
weight.
Their muzzle is long, and they have a lot of teeth in their mouth. Their skin
colour changes with the age and sex; when they are at rest the colour on the
back is iron-blue and the belly is white, but when they go up the rivers, their
back becomes dark.
They have a voracious appetite and can swim very fast when they live in the
sea, but when they go up the river, they do not eat until after they spawn,
that is why they become weak.
At the moment of their reproduction the salmon comes back to the river, where
it was born, to the highest course, and there the females lay the eggs from
November till December;.
They make a pit in the stream gravel into which they lay thousands of eggs,
and after that they cover them with sand from the bottom. Later, the males cover
the eggs with seminal liquid during a week.
After three months birth takes place, and after some states (fry, parr...) they
become adults.
In Spain there are salmon in the northern rivers but it has been checked that
the number of salmon that go up the rivers is decreasing in an alarming way.
The salmon lives in the seas of the northen hemisphere, and it gets into the
European and North American rivers at regular times and it is a relative of
the Pacific salmon.
At the beginning of this century there were in the Narcea River (the most important
river in Spain as far as salmon are concerned) about five thousand salmon going
up the river in a year, nowadays there are hardly one thousand.
There are many causes of depopulation of the Spanish rivers: natural and artificial
obstacles, water pollution,overfishing..
We must use different approaches to solve these problems. We could build fish
ladders to allow salmon to go upstream, try to purify the current state of the
water, regulate and forbide the use of nets and apply sanctions against the
dumping of toxic products.
Another method would be through natural and artificial restocking.
The solution is in our hands; what today is easy, tomorrow would be a waste
of time.!
Perhaps there does not exist an animal so pursued as the salmon. After a long
time in the ocean, where it has suffered considerably because of the voracity
of its enemies, and it gets closer to the coast looking for its river to reproduce.
This is when really the salmpn's struggle for life begins because it has to
face up to the worst and the most terrible enemy - Man.
Today we are in time, tomorrow it may be too late!!!
Great White Shark
The Great White is a fish. It has a fin on the top of the body called a dorsil
fin.
The Great White can grow from six to twelve metres long. It is a grey blue colour
on top of it's body and white on the bottom. The great white shark eats seals,
fish, other sharks, carrien of dead whales, octopus and rubbish.
When they have babies, the babies go away or risk getting eaten by the mother.
The great white shark is found in cold waters and warm waters.
Sometimes great white sharks are found in lakes of Australia and New Zealand.
The great white shark is endangered because people are killing them for food
and sport.
People are scared of them.
They also are endangered because people are polluting the water.
People should not pollute the ocean. They should not kill great whites for food
or sport.
Great white sharks are not man eaters. Leave sharks alone to swim in peace.
We have loved the sea for a long time and we have always wanted to do a project
on The great white shark