In this activity you'll need to do some Internet searching to learn more about some of the endangered species found in the Okavango Delta region. Botswana is fortunate in that it has a great variety of wildlife, and compared to many of its neighboring countries, relatively few are highly threatened.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is the leading group in assessing the conservation status of species. They provide a Red List of Threatened Species that gauges how critically species are threatened. The main categories they use are extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, vulnerable, and lower risk.
To see what these specific categories mean and to search for the status of the species below, visit: www.redlist.org. Are these species threatened? If so, to what degree?
Species List
- African Elephant
- Lesser Kestrel
- Black Rhinoceros
- Cheetah
- Wattled Crane
- African Wild Dog
- Impala
- Lechwe
- Spotted Hyaena
- Lion
Follow Up Questions
1. Can you think of some reasons why fewer species in Botswana are on the Red List compared to other countries?
2. Compare the critically endangered species with those that are less threatened. What is unique about the critically endangered species?
>>Learn how you can Stop the Clock on species extinction
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