Giant Panda

(Scientific name: Ailuropoda melanoleuca), sometimes referred to as the black-and-white cat-foot, is a mammal belonging to the bear family, or Ursidae. The Ailuropodinae is the oldest family of the most primitive lineage of bears and the fossils of the oldest ancestral panda, Ailuropoda lufengensesis, which are found in southern China, are about 8 million years old.

The Giant Panda is believed to be not only a genuine member of the bear family, but also the only living representative of the family Ailuropoda that is known to exist. Comparative blood-protein tests and recent molecular-genetic analysis have indicated that, while the giant panda branched off independently on the evolutionary tree, it is indeed closer to the bear family than to the raccoon.

Like bears, giant pandas are basically heavy ponderous land creatures. The giant panda reaches a length from 120 to 190 centimeters and the adult weight varies from 75 to 130 kilograms. Like many bears, panda bears can climb trees to escape danger or for a quick nap, and are particularly adept at climbing when young

THE BLUE WHALE

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales (called Mysticeti).[3] At 30 metres (98 ft)[4] in length and 180 metric tons (200 short tons)[5] or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed.[6] Long and slender, the blue whale's body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath.[7] There are at least three distinct subspecies: B. m. musculus of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia of the Southern Ocean and B. m. brevicauda (also known as the pygmy blue whale) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean. B. m. indica, found in the Indian Ocean, may be another subspecies. As with other baleen whales, its diet consists almost exclusively of small crustaceans known as krill.[8] Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. For over a century, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966. A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide,[9] located in at least five groups. More recent research into the Pygmy subspecies suggests this may be an underestimate.[10] Before whaling, the largest population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range 202,000 to 311,000).[11] There remain only much smaller (around 2,000) concentrations in each of the eastern North Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean groups. There are two more groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere.

ANIMALS IN EXTREME DANGER OF EXTINCTION

Endangered animals are those species that are in danger of going extinct. Their reproductive rates are lower than their mortality rates over long periods of time, so their numbers are diminishing. The reasons for this are varied, but lately, very often involves a loss of habitat as people encroach on their living areas.

When a species is listed as endangered or threatened, it is not a death sentence. Many animals, like the bald eagle and the American alligator, were on the brink of extinction and are now recovering. Many species, however, will not recover, and could be lost forever.

Throughout time, animal species have been going extinct (long before people evolved); paleontologists estimate that well over 90 percent of all plant and animal species that ever existed have gone extinct.