A Dream for a Better World

Wolverine is a kind of animal whose outlook is similar with bear as well as mink and is also the largest existing ferret division terrestrial animal in the world. Wolverine is not large and the body length ranges from 80cm to 100cm with weight up to 8kg to 14kg. The body and four limbs of wolverines are as strong as those of bears’ while they also have long tails which minks possess. Tail of wolverine is about 18cm long. Wolverine has brown hairs on the body and there is yellowish white semi-circular strip on the back butt in crescent shape. Therefore, wolverine is also called “crescent bear”. Male wolverines are much bigger than female ones. As seasons alter, hairs of wolverine also change. Wolverine changes hairs twice a year and in October, the animal has dark color hairs while summer comes, wolverine has light color hairs. No matter the hairs in winter or in summer, they can protect wolverines from being attacked by enemies. Wolverine is cold temperature zone animal and people could trace it in streams, rivers, frozen soil and naked rock of forest. The animal does not have fixed habitat which is always set up with two exits for escaping and it often comes out at night. Wolverine is alert, good at swimming as well as climbing. In the nature, the animal nearly does not have natural enemies. Wolverine is not large but it is the most aggressive one among all small carnivores because it can eat various animals such as deer, fox, wild cat and some large herbivores. The called “crescent bear” is powerful so most preys can not escape after being caught. In addition, the cute animal also steals people’s food.
As for the specific distribution area of wolverines, people have found them mainly in vast region of northern hemisphere including arctic area, Alaska, north part of Canada, Siberia, Scandinavia, Russia and Baltic Sea. In the past, wolverines were also found in south part, for example, California of America. In China, the animals has been traced in north part including Daxinganling, Inner Mongolia and north part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. During Qing Dynasty of China, wolverines were witnessed in other regions of north part. However, as vast forest has been developed, their habitats were destroyed. In such case, the animal has to shrink back to some other north and west parts. According to some surveys from the year 1989 to 1992, there were about 183 wolverines in Daxinganling, covering more than 80,000 square kilometers. At present, it is estimated that there are only about 200 wolverines in China. Habitat shrinking and disappearing of wolverines is the direct and fatal factor for their decreasing. In addition, as the quantity of many animals has decreased due to people’s hunting as well as killing, wolverines can not obtain enough preys. People also hunt wolverines to get their skin which can be made of clothes resisting coldness. Nowadays, wolverine has been categorized as an animal under China’s level one protection but more practical measures for protection are needed.

Pithecophaga jefferyi, a Latin name, is also called Philippine eagle which is the national bird in Philippine. Philippine eagle is one of the largest eagle with the smallest quantity in the modern world. People consider the eagle as “the noblest flying animal” as well as “the tiger among all eagles”. Philippine eagles have strong body and ferocious appearance. Body length of the rare eagle is about 1m with weight up to 9kg. As the eagle spreads out wings, length of wings is about 3m. Feathers of Philippine eagles’ upper part are dark brown and the lower part is yellow and white. Face and mouth of the bird are black. When Philippine eagles meet with preys, they will show ferocious appearance. Philippine eagle is considered as the supreme chief in south Asian forests. It is said that a Philippine eagle ever caught 14 wolves successfully. Philippine eagles like occupying land and a couple almost hold land of 30 square kilometers to hunt for preys. They eat all kinds of animals within the region especially apes and monkeys. Philippine eagles are very ferocious so people often make use of them to catch wolves on prairie.
Philippine eagles mainly live in tropical rainforest of Philippine and perch upon low mountains as well as open grassland. Arboreal animals are their major preys such as bats, snakes, lizards, hornbills and civet etc. Sometimes, they also approach to country sides nearby and catch livestock as food. Although Philippine eagles are quite ferocious, they are loyal to their companions too much. A Philippine eagle is just after only one companion along the whole life. They usually set up nests in rocks or shrubs. Philippine eagles’ nests are very large with the diameter up to 3m. However, their reproductive rate is low and not stable and a couple of Philippine eagles could just produce only one eagle every 2 to 3 years. At present, the quantity of wild grown-up Philippine eagles is no more than 250.
Scientists have found Philippine eagles for more than 100 years. In the year 1894, a scientist from UK found the special bird when he made research in the tropical rainforest and gave the name of the bird after careful research. Since then, misfortune of the precious bird started. At present, Philippine eagles encounter extinction. Since the year 1960, vast forest in deep mountains started to decrease. Naturally, Philippine eagles lost many natural habitats. Therefore, the quantity of Philippine eagles has decreased from more than 6000 to about 300. Extinction of the rare bird can occur quite soon. In order to protect the endangered animal, Philippine has listed it as the national bird and taken a series of measures to forbid hunting as well as killing. In 1983, the local government issued the law that hunters would be fined with a large amount together with imprisonment of 1 to 5 years. The government has taken various measures but the priority is to restore the system of forest. After all, the survival of other 27 kinds of birds is closely related with that of Philippine eagles

Cheilinus undulatus is the largest coral fish in the word and coral reef in southeast Asia, west Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean is the origin of the precious animal. The color of cheilinus undulatus is gorgeous and well matches with the color of coral so it is also called coral fish. Cheilinus undulatus is a kind of large fish with the body length of more than 2m. The weight of Cheilinus undulatus is about 190kg and it has lifespan of more than 30 years. There are two kinds of Cheilinus undulatus and they are deep-sea cheilinus undulatus and freshwater ones. Deep-sea cheilinus undulatus may have ciguatoxin in the body. Unlike many animals, cheilinus undulatus can eat various food. Besides fishes, the animal also eat many invertebrates including toxic animals and those with thorns such as urchins, starfish with spine crown, hard scales of fish and sea hares etc. Cheilinus undulatus will not be affected by poison after they eat those toxic animals. However, if people eat cheilinus undulatus without cleaning the toxin inside the body, they would suffer from poisoning. Cheilinus undulatus has various means to catch preys, for example, if the prey hides inside coral reef, it will clamp the target tightly and drag it out.
Cheilinus undulatus has a special feature. A small part of cheilinus undulatus can change their sex although most of them keep the original sex. Cheilinus undulatus is large but it is quite moderate. People even can touch the lovely animal when diving. Therefore, it is not difficult for people to catch them. In past 30 years, the quantity of cheilinus undulatus has decreased by 50% at least. Actually, the animals does not have natural enemy and the natural mortality rate is very low. Experts think that people have killed a large number of cheilinus undulatus as delicious food so the number has decreased rapidly. The flesh of cheilinus undulatus is quite tender and people like it very much. In addition, the quantity of it is not much so cheilinus undulatus of 1kg can be sold at 200$. A plateful of lips can be sold up to 300$. Such great price motivates people to take a risk to catch the previous fish. In fact, in some areas, less than 10 cheilinus undulatus can be found within coral reef of 1 hectare. As people never stop hunting, cheilinus undulatus have been extinct in some regions.
Cheilinus undulatus should not be traded as economic fish. The fish has long lifespan and it has slow sexual maturation. If people hunt them in a large number, they will die out without future generations. Cheilinus undulatus like laying eggs in groups, so people could easily catch all of them at a time. At present, people could not breed cheilinus undulatus artificially and nearly all of them sold at the market are wild ones. Nowadays, cheilinus undulatus has been listed as a endangered animal but illegal trade and hunting still continue. What is more important, people have little knowledge about the current situation of the precious animal.

Cheetah, whose formal name is Acinonyx Jubatus, is a kind of feline. Cheetahs mainly live in Africa and west Asia and they depend on fast speed to hunt food instead of sneak attack or group attack. Cheetah is the animal which runs fastest in the world and the speed per hour is up to 110km. In addition, cheetah is the animal among all feline animals with the longest history and uniqueness. There are two subspecies of cheetah in the world. One is Asian subspecies and the other is African subspecies. Cheetahs which ever lived in India of Asia have been extinct so at present, cheetahs mainly live in Africa. In Texas, Nevada and Wyoming of America, people ever found the fossil of the oldest cheetah which lived more than 10,000 years ago. At that time, cheetahs could be found in Asia, Africa, America and Europe. Afterwards, as the climate underwent great changes during ice age, various animals were extinct and some cheetahs in Europe, America, some parts of Asia and Africa also disappeared. Cheetahs live in jungle or dry wood and they like living alone. Cheetah is the most docile animal among all feline animals and it does not attack people and other animals actively except when it is hunting. People in ancient times often used it to hunt other animals. Cheetah mainly lives on small and medium animals. although they can have 50% chance to catch preys successfully, their preys sometimes are caught by stronger animals such as lions, hyena and other larger rivals. Therefore, they have to eat preys within the shortest time. If a cheetah can not get a prey or the prey is taken away by other animals for 5 times continuously, it will be starved to death because it does not have strength to hunt food. Baby cheetah have few chance to survive because they are eaten by larger animals or starved to death.
Survival of the fittest is the constant truth in the world. The number of cheetah has decreased due to two major reasons. Cheetah is often beaten down by larger animals and then it is eaten by rivals. Therefore, it is not strange that the quantity of cheetahs would decrease. In addition, people also never give up hunting cheetah. Since the year 1990, wild cheetahs living in some parts of Asia and Africa have been extinct in more than 20 countries. According to experts’ estimation, there are about 10,000 odd cheetahs in the world and 400 to 700 of them live in South Africa. Nowadays, cheetahs still face up to hunters’ illegal hunting. A nation in Africa, is a nomadic people and people do not kill cheetah but they always take away cheetahs’ preys. So poor cheetahs have to hunt preys again. As for endangered cheetah, people have set up some national parks and natural preservation zones to protect cheetahs. People also have started to breed cheetahs artificially. In addition, trade for cheetah skin has been forbidden among countries in the world. Therefore, people have to reduce hunting for cheetahs.