Bycatch is the most critical extinction threat facing marine megafauna in coastal seas, including the world's most endangered dolphins, porpoises, seals, dugongs, sharks, and marine turtles. These vulnerable species share coastal waters with small-scale fisheries that employ 99% of the world's 50 million fishers. An estimate of global dolphin and porpoise bycatch indicates that more than 300,000 individuals are killed each year, with about 98% resulting from entanglement in gillnets and about 2% in trawlers and other gear, such as long lines.
A global review of marine mammal consumption by humans concluded that targeted hunts of small cetaceans have generally been reduced and capture
The Giant Panda is a species of bear that is found in the mountains of central and western China. One of the most famous and easily identifiable animals in the world, the Giant Panda is also one of the rarest and is under immense threat in it's natural environment, primarily from habitat loss. The Giant Panda is unique among bears as they do not hibernate, have very small babies at birth and survive on a diet that is almost entirely vegetarian. Since the Giant Panda was first discovered by a French naturalist in 1869, it has become a global symbol for conservation with the World Wildlife Fund using it as their logo. The Chinese people also see the Giant Panda as a symbol of peace and numerou
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
Sharks are a group of fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade
Selachimorpha (or Selachii) and are the sister group to the rays. However, the term "shark" has also been used for extinct members of the subclass Elasmobranchii outside the Selachimorpha, such as Cladoselache and Xenacanthus, as well as other Chondrichthyes such as the holocephalid eugenedontidans. Under this broader definition, the earliest known sharks date back to more than 420 million years ago. Acanthodians are often referred to as "spiny sharks"; though they are n
