'Endangered' captures lives of threatened species around the world
The book includes powerful images of polar bears, coral reefs and more.
ByABC News
December 1, 2017, 8:30 AM
A 2016 report from wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC found that, on average, four snow leopards have been killed every week since 2008. Of those, more than half are revenge killings by herders, angry at losing their already-meager income. Another 20-odd percent succumb to poachers (some for their illegally traded fur, others for body parts used in traditional Asian medicines), and a further 20 percent are caught in traps set for other animals. Around four to seven thousand snow leopards survive today.
Tim Flach
— -- From polar bears in the melting tundra to colorful coral reefs in the world's oceans, photographer Tim Flach documented where threatened and endangered animals are living in his new book "Endangered."
'Endangered' captures lives of threatened species around the world
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Tim Flach's new book, "Endangered" hopes to draw attention to the decline of several species of animals across the globe. </br></br>All captions were written by Sam Wells for use in Tim Flach's book "Endangered."
Tim Flach
The book captures powerful images of the lives of stunning creatures from varying ecosystems around the globe in an effort to draw attention to their declining numbers.
A 2003 survey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo estimated hippo numbers had fallen by 95 percent during eight years of civil war. Today, African elephants outnumber hippos roughly four to one. Hippo teeth are still being smuggled out of several African countries (among them Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique), mostly to Hong Kong, where ivory is carved into trinkets. The skin, too, is sought for leatherwork.
Working with the chief scientist of the National Geographic Society, Dr. Jonathan Baillie, who also wrote the book's introduction, "Endangered" explores the moral dilemmas and issues human face in preserving these species and their environments.
Philippine eagles breed slowly, and fewer than 10 percent of juveniles make it to adulthood, so a captive-breeding program, run by the Philippine Eagle Foundation on Mindanao, gives a vital boost to numbers. Old prejudices, which had seen the bird maligned as a chicken-thief, die hard. Accordingly, the foundation works with schoolteachers on Mindanao to promote positive attitudes, so that the next generation of volunteers will treasure this flagship bird.
Flach is an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, and his work focuses on animals and their interactions with humans. His previous work includes "Equus," "Dog Gods" and "More Than Human."
As the water warms, its oxygen content falls, reducing productivity. Ringed and bearded seals, which make up the bearâ??s main prey, need the ice cover for protection and for pupping. Polar bears can eat whale meat, but they need the seal flesh to maintain their bodyweight, and to keep up their omega-3 fatty acids (or otherwise risk high cholesterolâ?? rather like us). With ever more open, ice-free seas, however, the bears are forced to swim ever greater distances to find an ever-diminishing supply of prey.
