“I TOOK A WALK IN THE WILDERNESS AND CAME OUT TALLER THAN THE MOUNTAINS”
UNKNOWN
WILDLIFE IN DANGER
The rapid deterioration of wildlife In Africa is merely one indication of the disregard man has for the environment. The term ‘technosphere’, which relates to the industrial environment that has evolved since the second century, could easily overwhelm the ‘biosphere’, the thin, protective layer surrounding the earth’s atmosphere.
Considering endangered wildlife, we discover that hundreds of animal species, including many of the higher vertebrates, are in danger of global extinction. Through the course of evolution, extinction is a natural process and the fossil record which has been studied in depth for over a century provides some measurement of its natural rate. It is now accurate to assume that the current extinction rate of wild living things has been quadrupled by man since he imposed the technosphere on the planet.
Looking back a few centuries we find that, since the year 1600, 359 species have disappeared, and today 922 species are classified as endangered. South Africa supports the greatest example of a Pleistocene type of fauna and flora, for example: 400 different kind of mammals, of which 80 are considered spectacular; 850 species of birds, 425 of which have been recorded in the Ndumu Game Reserve alone. The latter figure represents 5 percent of the total bird species population of the world.
One of the animals which became extinct and which was indigenous to the southern part of southern Africa, was the quagga. The last known surviving quagga died in 1875 in the Berlin Zoological Gardens.
In the wilds, it may have survived in the Orange Free State until as late as 1878. The animal was at one time so plentiful that the skins were utilized as grain-bags. In the end the demand outweighed the supply.
Another animal – the bloubok – is not known to have survived beyond about 1800 as was apparently the first of the recent African mammals to become extinct. The bloubok was evidently restricted to parts of the south-west Cape zone. The tragedy of the bloubok is that its life as a species was of such short duration that it was hardly known to science before it disappeared.
The Cape lion was the first of the African subspecies of Panthera leo to become extinct. This animal was last recorded in the Cape in 1858. It was once common throughout the southern and central parts of South Africa. The huge black mane which completely covered the animal’s shoulders, the thick growth of hair which traversed the latter end of the abdomen to roughly between the legs, and the broad, rather short head, distinguished the Cape lion from the present-day subspecies.
Specimens of the Cape lion are still preserved in the museums of Paris, Stuttgart, Leyden, and Wiesbaden and in Acton. Subspecies still found in South Africa include the lions in the Kruger National Park and surrounds, those from Namibia, Botswana and the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park.
Prior to the arrival of the European settlers, vast herds of animals roamed the savannahs. But from the eighteenth century onwards their numbers were progressively decimated as a result of indiscriminate hunting. The bloubok and quagga were wiped out, and only the creation of game reserves prevented such species as the elephant, bontebok, blesbok, black wildebeest, mountain zebra, eland, and rhino to suffer a similar fate.
According to the biologist, an endangered species is one that will become extinct if the trend of exploitation is continued. No one really knows the actual number of animals remaining, and counting the animals in the wild is a difficult task. A species is endangered when, as in the case of the cheetah, it has disappeared from the areas where it formerly occurred. In India for example, where cheetah once abounded, they are no longer there.
The African cheetah lives in open semi-arid grasslands, bush, or savannah. The lands which once belonged to the cheetah are now being occupied by commercial farmers who are disturbed by predators. The lands are also being colonized by populations spilling over into the more fertile country. It is this competition for the land between man and nature, and, more importantly, the continual destruction of natural habitat, which present a pressing problem for the survival of the cheetah.
The trouble is that the cheetah, like the fur seal, belongs to everybody and nobody. The continual fur trade in spotted cats should be completely halted at every level throughout the world. As long as trade is permitted, spotted cats will be in danger.
Today, black rhino, roan antelope, and wild dog are three animals which are extremely rare in South Africa.
The future survival of the cheetah may depend on large enough sanctuaries capable of supporting the species and man’s study of its ecological requirements. The biology of the cheetah has been studied in fair detail and many attempts are being made to breed them in captivity. But what do we know of its status in the wild. Outside of protected areas its chances of survival is slim. Racing to extinction, the cheetah is the fastest animal on earth. Long legged and lean, but it cannot outrun civilization.
We as hikers, explorers, and adventurers have the absolute duty to respect and protect our Wildernesses. Nobody else will do it for us. Take ownership!
The End.
Safe Hiking.
References and Acknowledgements
From the book – Walk through the Wilderness – C Walker & D Richards
Photos – Willem Pelser
Compiled by - Willem Pelser
