We have entered a period of sixth extinction. Bleak headlines about species on the brink can be seen everywhere. Today, I am going to use two case studies to document this crisis.

According to IUCN Red List Categories, which define the extinction risk of species, both species I want to talk about are critically endangered - facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild

Panamanian Golden Frog

The Atelopus zeteki is an iconic species living in Panama. They mainly habituate in wet and dry forest streams and feed mostly on insects. The reason I say it is invisible because scientists believe that Panamanian Frog has probably extinct in the wild around the late 2000s. Their rapid decline can be mainly attributed to hunting and a chytrid fungus that causes highly contagious chytridiomycosis skin disease, which prevents gas exchange. Although extinct in the wild, fortunately projects have been conducted to raise them in captivity.

Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird

This Lepidopyga lilliae is extremely small with a body size around 9cm that it may seem 'invisible' sometimes when we are glancing around and with a generation duration of 4.2 years. It lives around the Columbia's Caribbean coast, habituated in the mangrove forest or in xerophytic shrubs. They derive their food from the nectaries of brightly colored flowers or sometimes from insects. Yet the population is declining at a drastic speed due to human impacts. The main three factors causing this decline are deforestation for transportation, utility, or agriculture uses, building dams, or water pollution, which all destroy their natural habitat. Now, the estimated survived individual is around 50-249; measures have been taken to prevent illegal logging or deliberate fires. Yet more attention and efforts are needed if we want to preserve this specie from extinction.

At the end of the day, we still need to preserve our environment, or else reintroduction of the specie will be impossible.

Reference:

https://www.iucnredlist.org/