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When people think of the greatest threats to animals, they often think of poaching or climate change but the biggest threat to animals is habitat loss. Habitat loss happens when people destroy an animal’s habitat to clear land for farms, roads, and cities. This is bad because animals require lots of land to roam and find mates and food. Thankfully, there are ways you can stop it from happening and keep wild places wild.
Habitat loss, also known as habitat destruction, is when the habitat of wild animals is destroyed to make way for cities, houses, farms, and roads. It is very harmful to the animals themselves because their habitat is shrinking and they have to cross roads that are filled with cars. Animals crossing roads are also a problem because it can cause lots of roadkill to be on the roads as animals are killed during car crashes.
One kind of habitat loss is deforestation. Deforestation is when trees are cut down in a rainforest or a normal forest to make way for human settlements. This is also bad because the rainforest is biodiverse, home to many animals and plants that depend on the rainforest for food and shelter. If their home is cut down, then the animals will only have small corridors of the rainforest where they have to compete with other animals. Many animals are affected by deforestation such as the okapi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC) and the giant panda which is found in the bamboo forests of China. Deforestation is also affecting animals of the Amazon rainforest. It is also harmful to humans because when trees are cut down, they release their carbon dioxide into the air which also contributes to global warming.
Habitat loss also contributes to human/wildlife conflict. This happens when animals come into human settlements and wreak havoc. One example comes from Africa. As people are encroaching into elephant habitats, the elephants themselves are eating farmers’ crops, who then shoot the elephants as retaliation. The same is true for tigers in Asia, who are shot by farmers for killing their livestock. Many animals will also adapt to live in human settlements, which can cause people to regard these animals as pests.
Luckily, more people are doing their part to help stop habitat loss. People are building wildlife crossings over roads, so animals can cross them safely without getting hit by cars. In places that have human/wildlife conflict, conservationists are giving people ways to deter wildlife without shooting them. For example, WWF is helping farmers in East Africa deter elephants from eating their crops by using beehive fences. People are also doing their part to help create national parks, where habitats are protected. You can also help stop habitat loss. View the list below to see what you can do.