Welcome to Species Profiles

If you're ready to begin, click the category headings in the right-hand column, browse through new Profiles, or use our search feature to find a particular species. If you're new to this site, or you're not sure what it's all about, this page should be helpful.

Species Profiles are meant to be used as educational resources, and are available in HTML or Adobe PDF format (recommended for printing). A link to the PDF version appears in each Profile. Educators are free to print, copy, and distribute them to students; students may print, copy, and distribute them for classroom presentations, or include them in their entirety as appendices to research papers. Each Species Profile used must be properly cited; cut-and-paste citations in APA and MLA formats are provided at the end of each Profile. You may not edit or otherwise alter these Profiles, however you may use properly cited excerpts within an academic context.

Fair Use: The images and information contained in Species Profiles are used in good faith according to our interpretation of Fair Use under US Copyright Law, section 107. Images contained in this site are for non-commercial, educational use only. If you are the owner of an image appearing on this website and wish for it to be removed or credited to you, please contact us and we will immediately comply with your request.

How to use this resource:

A Species Profile is a brief introduction to an animal under threat from the wildlife trade, hunting, and habitat loss. It contains the species' common and scientific names, and the following sections:

• Description
• Habitat
• Distribution
• Behavior
• Human Impact

Photos and maps are also included if they are available. Unless otherwise stated, these images are property of wildlife-emergency.org, and must only be used in accordance with our Terms of Use. Images belonging to others may only be used according with their owners' terms; it is your responsibility to obtain this information and secure permission if necessary. You do not need additional permission to print, copy, or distribute images if they remain contained within a Species Profile.

Binomial Nomenclature: Binomial nomenclature is the term for the naming system scientists use to describe all living organisms; the terms 'scientific name' and 'Latin name' are often substituted in the interest of being less cumbersome, although many of the names are derived from Greek. Scientific names are used to eliminate confusion; common names vary from one language to the next, and from region to region. The mountain lion provides a good example of this; the animal ranges across two continents, and has countless common names, including cougar, puma, panther, catamount, mountain devil, sneak cat, red tiger, deer tiger, and Indian feather - and those are just a few of the English names; the Spanish, Portuguese, and Native American names are far more numerous. Scientific names, on the other hand, are more or less universal. Scientists sometimes disagree on what an animal should be called (as they do with the mountain lion), but binomial nomenclature still provides them with a common framework. Each name consists of a genus and a species. The genus, or generic name, can be thought of like your last name, except that it comes first; there may be many different animals that share the same genus. The species, or specific name, is like your first name, except that it comes second; when we talk about an animal 'species', we are referring to the specific name. Scientific names are usually italicized; genus names are capitalized, but species names are lowercase. Once established, an initial sometimes replaces the genus name; for example, one might introduce the mountain lion as Felis concolor, and refer to it thereafter as F. concolor.

Taxonomy: Scientific names are only a small piece of a much larger framework; every organism known to science is categorized into at least seven hierarchical groups, called taxa. The basic hierarchy is as follows:

• Kingdom
  
  • Phylum
    
    • Class
      
      • Order
        
        • Family
          
          • Genus
            
            • Species

Using the mountain lion as an example again, its taxonomy is:

• Kingdom: Animalia
  
  • Phylum: Chordata
    
    • Class: Mammalia
      
      • Order: Carnivora
        
        • Family: Felidae
          
          • Genus: Felis
            
            • Species: concolor

To further complicate the matter, scientists have divided each taxon into supertaxa, subtaxa, infrataxa, and a few taxa without names to create a potential of more than thirty taxa for any given species. Take the Florida panther, a subspecies of the mountain lion:

• Kingdom: Animalia
  
  • Eumetazoa
    
    • Bilateria
      
      • Deuterostomia
        
        • Phylum: Chordata
          
          • Craniata
            
            • Subphylum: Vertebrata
              
              • Superclass: Gnathostomata
                
                • Euteliostomi
                  
                  • Class: Sarcopterygii
                    
                    • Tetrapoda
                      
                      • Amniota
                        
                        • Synapsida
                          
                          • Class: Mammalia
                            
                            • Order: Carnivora
                              
                              • Subclass: Theria
                                
                                • Infraclass: Eutheria
                                  
                                  • Family: Felidae
                                    
                                    • Subfamily: Felinae
                                      
                                      • Genus: Felis
                                        
                                        • Species: concolor
                                          
                                          • Subspecies: coryi

You may have noticed that there are two classes in the list, Sarcopterygii and Mammalia; it's not a perfect system. The more scientists have learned about the characteristics and relationships between species, the more confusing taxonomy has become, and the less species have fit neatly into the hierarchy. Fortunately for our purposes, most of these taxa will not be used, but we will make reference to some of them, like class Mammalia, order Carnivora, or family Felidae (mammals, carnivores, or cats). We will also make frequent references to 'subspecies'; a subspecies is a distinct population within a species. Using the first and last name analogy, if you were to meet someone with the same first and last name as you, it might be necessary to come up with a third name to distinguish yourself; you might use a nickname, your middle name, a title like Dr., or a suffix like Jr. or Sr. This would ensure that others knew excatly of whom they were speaking, just like the name F. concolor coryi ensures that scientists know they are talking about a Florida panther and not some other subspecies of mountain lion, or about mountain lions in general.

Species Profiles focus predominantly on vertebrates, or animals with backbones. For our purposes, these include mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

Mammals: Mammals are endothermic, meaning that they regulate their body temperatures internally. The vast majority are viviparous, giving live birth to their young, and infants feed on milk produced by their mothers. They are tetrapods, possessing four legs (or two legs and two arms). Mammals have hair or fur, although some have very little. There are well over 5,000 mammal species known to science; they can be found virtually everywhere on Earth.

Birds: Birds are endothermic and oviparous - egg-layers whose young undergo most of their development outside of their mothers. They are bipeds - possessing two legs. Their other two limbs are modified into wings for flying or flippers for swimming, although some birds neither fly nor swim, and their wings are largely vestigial. Birds have hollow bones and highly specialized beaks for feeding. There are around 10,000 known species.

Reptiles: Reptiles are ectotherms - they are dependent upon the temperature of their environments to regulate their internal temperatures. Reptiles may be viviparous, oviparous, or ovoviviparous - developing within eggs that are not laid until just before or just after they hatch. Reptiles' skin is covered in scales, which are often modified for different purposes, such as locomotion, gripping smooth surfaces, or collecting moisture. There are some 8,000 known reptile species, most of which are found in the tropics, although some are found in high mountain and frozen tundra habitats.

Amphibians: Amphibians are ectothermic and most are dependent upon contact with water for their survival. Most amphibians lay eggs, and the young undergo an aquatic larval stage, followed by a metamorphosis in which their limbs develop and they become more suited to terrestrial life. Many amphibians exhibit paedomorphism, a trait in which the adults retain some of their larval traits, such as gills, tails, and undeveloped limbs. Amphibians have permeable skin that allows water and oxygen to pass through it, and it must generally be kept moist to function properly. Toxins can also pass through the skin, which has led amphibians to become known as 'indicator species' in terms of environmental pollutants. There are over 6,000 species described by modern science; most come from the wet tropics, but some amphibians have adapted to life in the desert, and many in temperate climates survive being frozen solid every winter.

Fish: Most fish are ectothermic, and all live in water; scientists do not group all fish into a single taxon, and how closely related different species actually are to each other is debatable. They breathe through gills, and have lubricated skin that enables them to swim more efficiently. Scientists know of nearly 30,000 species, but new ones are frequently discovered, particularly in largely unexplored habitats like tropical river systems and deep ocean trenches.

Habitat: When we use the word 'habitat', we are referring to the kind of place where a particular species lives. Some animals can inhabit a wide variety of habitats, while others may be so specialized that they can only be found in an area totaling less than an acre. Some examples of habitats are tropical rain forests, high deserts, arctic tundra, and coral atolls.

Geographic Distribution: Geographic distribution differs from habitat distribution in that it refers more to points on a map than to biomes or weather patterns. When describing an animal's distribution, we normally provide at least one map; a distribution map might look something like this:

Range maps are not perfect; it is usually impossible to define an animal's range with absolute certainty, so we make a guess based on reliable data. The historic range is the area that the species likely occupied before human impact caused its habitat to shrink, or in some cases, before humans introduced the animal outside its natural range. Similarly, we are often unsure of a given species' numbers in the wild, so we make an informed guess, and an attempt at guessing its total numbers prior to any significant human interference.

Behavior: A species' behavior is the way it interacts with its environment. Behavior is a complex topic; a single behavior in a single species may be the subject of years of research and a number of doctoral dissertations. We will address behavior only briefly by comparison. In general, animals have two kinds of behaviors: inherited and learned. Inherited behaviors are those that an animal exhibits at birth, or at certain stages in its development; they may be quite complicated, as in the migration behavior of salmon, or quite simple, as in the fear of loud noises seen in many species. Learned behaviors may be more variable than inherited ones. Take the orca, or killer whale - young orcas spend years learning to hunt, but different families, called 'pods', often hunt different prey; some eat only fish, while others specialize in catching seal pups in shallow water, or in hunting penguins, or even much larger whales. They may communicate with a different set of sounds than orcas in another part of the ocean, and they may have an entirely different social structure; in the Pacific Northwest, some orcas live in the typical pod framework and eat mostly fish, but there are also orcas known as transients, who are frequently solitary, and often hunt seals and sea lions. The two types rarely interact with each other, each having learned a different orca 'culture'. Over many generations of segregation, they have even begun to look slightly different from one another.

The importance of animal behavior is that it gives us a better idea of a species' unique niche in its ecosystem, and its needs for survival. In a captive setting, understanding an animal's behavior is crucial; it helps us decide what kind of enclosure to build, how to feed the animal, whether or not it should live with others of its kind or others of different species, and how to safely interact with it when necessary. By fostering the animal's natural behaviors, we can minimize the stress of captivity, and we can also stimulate its mind by teaching it new behaviors. (Learn more.)

Human Impact: Human beings have emerged over the millennia to become the dominant species on Earth, and many scientists believe that for the first time in natural history, a single species will be responsible for wiping out the majority of the others on the planet. People impact animal life in countless ways, not all of which are negative. In the Human Impact section of each Species Profile, we examine the relationship between the species and human beings, which may include negative impacts like poaching, or positive impacts like conservation efforts. Listed below are a few of the more common ways that human beings impact animals:

• Negative Impact:
• Habitat Loss: As human populations grow and our demand for resources increases, natural habitats are being destroyed at a rapid rate. Logging, agriculture, and development take a massive toll on the planet's wild species, some of which never recover.
• Pollution: Environmental pollutants area health risk to all life on Earth, but they are especially hazardous to marine life; the world's oceans tend to collect pollutants, many of which take many years to break down. Oil spills are an obvious example of this, however there are less apparent threats that may have a much larger impact, such as mercury and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), which may build up in the living tissue of marine organisms until they reach fatal levels.
• Climatic Change: Scientists may debate its severity, but few disagree that the planet is getting warmer at a faster rate than it once did. Climatic change is a combination of pollution and habitat loss in that it is accelerated by airborne pollutants, and can result in the loss of vital habitats, the most notable of which are Arctic and Antarctic pack ice. It may also result in larger, more violent storms, which destroy coastlines and rip apart coral reefs; this can be a serious problem for species already under strain from pollution and loss of habitat.
• Over-hunting: Human beings have wiped out entire species in a short amount of time by simply hunting them to extinction, and many more species have been pushed dangerously close to the edge. Subsistence hunting and localized sport hunting are unlikely to decimate a population, but when hunting is commercialized, it becomes a massive threat capable of eliminating a species. Animals that are valued for their hides or their ivory are in constant peril, as are those considered to be a threat to people or livestock. The world's whales remain in danger from commercial whaling, and a number of animals are threatened by traditional medicine practices.
• Introduced Species: When human beings move into an area, they often bring animals with them; domestic species may prey on native wildlife, or introduce diseases for which the area's wild animals have no immunities. Humans have also been known to deliberately introduce wild animals from other parts of the world, disrupting the ecological balance and making it nearly impossible for native species to survive. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Australia, where introduced species continue to decimate native populations at an appalling rate.
• The Wildlife Trade: People have been keeping animals in captivity for thousands of years, but their desire to possess animals has not been limited to traditional domestic species. Private ownership of wild animals is increasing all over the world, but nowhere is it more rampant than in the United States. Many animals are bred in captivity, but others are trapped in the wild; often, hunters kill adult animals and sell their infant offspring to exotic pet dealers. Millions of wild animals are legally imported into the United States every year, and perhaps millions more are brought into the country without documentation; most are birds and reptiles, but wildlife smugglers have successfully moved animals of all shapes and sizes across the border undetected. Illegal importers often operate under the '50% rule' - they only need half of the animals they smuggle to survive to make a profit. Once in the US, animals may be sold as pets, or they may go to hunting ranches or butcher shops that specialize in exotic game. Wild animals are also bred in captivity in tremendous numbers; often they are bred solely for the wildlife trade, and little thought is given to the offspring's genetic viability. The wildlife trade has a double impact, hurting wild populations and endangering the welfare of captive animals. The trade also poses significant threats to human beings, as many wild animals are especially dangerous, and animal owners' safety practices are usually somewhat lacking. Any animal that can be seen in a zoo in the United States can also be found in private hands, and in many cases the animals either came directly from zoos, or are descended from zoo animals. (What is 'wild'?)
• Positive Impact:


• Conservation: In response the serious threats to species around the world, conservation groups have formed in the nonprofit and government sectors; their purpose is to preserve habitat, to stop the damage done by pollution, poaching, and the wildlife trade, and to control factors like disease and predation by introduced species. Some groups breed animals in captivity and release them into their natural habitats, or relocate animals from an area where their population is more stable. Most conservation organizations put a great deal of effort into education and public awareness in an attempt to change the mindset of the general population; over the years, they have made headway, and people are gradually coming to understand the importance of conservation. Some species, like the American bison, have been brought back from almost certain extinction, thanks to the work of conservationists.
• Environmentalism: Environmentalism and conservationism go hand in hand, but environmentalists tend to focus more on the big picture: pollution, global climatic conditions, natural resource depletion, and on influencing public policy and opinion for positive change. Where conservationists are often biologists, environmentalists are chemists, using science in the lab and in the field to assess threats and develop solutions. Thanks to the hard work of environmentalists, we are on our way to having a cleaner, healthier planet.
• Animal Welfare and Animal Rights: Ideologies differ slightly between the animal welfare and animal rights camps, but the basic goal is the same - to prevent animal cruelty. Within these two, non-exclusive schools of thought are organizations that work in a number of ways, from public education and advocacy campaigns to hands-on work with animals in need. Historically, most animal rights and animal welfare groups have focused on domestic species, but as the number of wild animals in captivity grows, they have had to broaden their activities to include protecting the welfare or rights of wild animals. In approximately the past thirty years, wildlife sanctuaries have emerged to provide permanent homes for wild animals that have been abused, neglected, obtained or imported illegally, or have simply exceeded their owners' capabilities to care for them. Few legitimate facilities exist at this time to cope with the massive numbers of animals in need of rescue, but that is changing. (Read more.)

Let's get started: The column on the right side of this page lists animals by category, or you can search for the animal you want to learn about; you can also browse our newest Species Profiles -- we add them regularly. If you would like to be notified when a new Profile is added, click here for our RSS feed. (What?)

Lion; Panthera leo; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Poison dart frog; Dendrobates ventrimaculatus; © World Wildlife Fund-Canon/Martin Harvey

Wood duck; Aix sponsa; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Western pond turtle; Clemmys marmorata; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Grey whale; Eschrichtius robustus; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

American bison; Bison bison; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Woma python; Aspidites ramsayi; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Sockeye salmon; Oncorhynchus nerka; Jeremy Sarrow; © California Academy of Sciences

Southern white rhinoceros; Ceratotherium simum simum; © World Wildlife Fund-Canon/Martin Harvey

Squirrel monkey; Saimiri sciureus; Dr. Lloyd Glenn Ingles; © California Academy of Sciences

Black-browed albatross; Thalassarche melanophris; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

American crocodile; Crocodilus acutus; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Western toad; Bufo boreas; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

White tip reef shark; Triaenodon obesus; Dong Lin; © California Academy of Sciences

Golden eagle; Aquila chrysaetos; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Polar bear; Ursus maritimus; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

African elephant; Loxodonta africana; © World Wildlife Fund-Canon/Martin Harvey

Eclectus parrot; Eclectus roratus; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Red-headed agama; Agama agama; Arthur J. Emmrich; © California Academy of Sciences

Lowland gorilla; Gorilla gorilla berengei; © World Wildlife Fund-Canon/Roger Hooper

Tomato clownfish; Amphiprion frenatus; H. Vannoy Davis; © California Academy of Sciences

Crowned crane; Balearica regulorum; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Coyote; Canis latrans; © World Wildlife Fund

Komodo monitor; Varanus komodoensis; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Leopard; Panthera pardus; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

Boa constrictor; Boa constrictor; © David Beart

Grey fox; Urocyon cinereoargenteus; Gerald and Buff Corsi; © California Academy of Sciences

California sea lion; Zalophus californianus