Along with the increasing weather changes, habitat destruction is also playing a huge role in the disappearances of different animal species that reside in rainforests. An average of 137 different species of plants and animals are pushed to extinction every day from habitat destruction, which is nearly 50 thousand each year. Rainforests provide habitat to over 30 million species of plants and animals, most of which are endangered or critically endangered. One being the Sumatran Tiger which inhabits the Sumatra Islands in Indonesia. In the wild, in fact, this is the only place in the world in which this subspecies of tiger can be found. The Sumatran Tigers numbers are depleting at a steady rate due to illegal hunting and the ever-increasing problem of deforestation. As the forests are destroyed by man for palm oil and hardwood harvesting, the natural habitat of the tiger and its prey disappears, causing them to die out steadily.
With the decreasing population of Sumatran Tigers, Indian Wild Dogs, also known as Dholes, are also facing a decline. Due to the rapidly expanding infrastructure of cities and towns and depletion of their prey base, the Dhole only exists in numbers around 2000 to 2500, making it one of the most endangered species within Asian wildlife. Along with the endangered Sumatran Tigers and Dholes, the Mountain Gorilla has made it’s way onto the critically endangered animals list.
Due to detrimental human activity, such as poaching, civil war, and habitat destruction, the Mountain Gorilla has become the most endangered type of gorilla. There are less than 1000 remaining in the wild, which currently inhabit in three countries spanning four national parks—Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Volcanoes National Park, and Virunga National Park. With the ever growing population, more and more species and subspecies of plants, animals, and insects lose more of their natural habitat that lead to extinction.
