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- 23% of the world's landscapes are mountain regions.
- Mountainous ecosystems are some of the most bio-diverse regions in the world, home to many species of animals, including the snow leopard.
- 1.2 billion people, nearly 20% of the world's population, live in mountainous ecosystems, and about 90 million people live at altitudes higher than 8,000 feet.
- Over one billion people depend on the resources found in a mountainous ecosystem (mostly fresh water and food). 80% of our planet's fresh water originates in the mountains.
- In the mountains where snow leopards live (e.g., Himalayas on Earth), can be found the source of many of the world's biggest rivers, like Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, etc., all of which are very important for India, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, to name a few.
- The mountains are home to many ethnic minorities. Unfortunately, more and more are being driven out of their homes due to the effects of logging and mining.
- Mining causes extensive damage to mountains and endangers the stability of the ecosystems.
- Very few gold mine operations are certified as "green" but there is one in Colombia that has developed eco-gold with strict community and environmental measures.
- Weather changes on the mountains affect glaciers and rivers. Sadly, water levels are becoming less and less predictable.
- The Himalayan Yew, a slow-growing conifer and a promising drug to cure some cancers, is quickly disappearing. The future of animals, plants and humans are linked. Protecting snow leopards means keeping a whole ecosystem healthy.
- Only 8% of all mountains are protected in some form.
- The 14 highest mountains in the world can all be found within the snow leopard's habitat.
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- Snow leopards generally live at altitudes above 13,000 feet.
- Between 3,500 and 7,000 snow leopards are left in the wild spread across 12 countries.
- As much as 60% of the snow leopard habitats are concentrated in China.
- The main threats to snow leopards are poaching, loss of prey, loss of habitat, and attacks by herders protecting their livestock.
- Snow leopards can leap 33 feet.
- They have gigantic paws which act as snowshoes.
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- The savannah is a grassland ecosystem which covers about 20% of the Earth's landmass area.
- Due to human activity, the savannah ecosystem is losing more and more of its vegetation and soil resources, resulting in nutrient losses and shifts in water balance and availability.
- The savannah is extremely rich in biodiversity. When conserved with care, the savannah and surrounding vegetation can help local communities develop careful eco-tourism.
- Cheetahs live in savannahs and grasslands but also in dense vegetation and even mountainous terrain if needed.
- Overgrazing by herds belonging to local farmers is a serious problem for the cheetahs and leads to conflicts between predators and cattle. It also causes erosion, which results in the destruction of the vegetation. It turns the grassland into farmland.
- Tree clearing is another major problem. It accelerates the desertification process.
- Exotic and quick-growing plants like eucalyptus are often planted which alter the soil's natural Ph balance , increasing acidity, and making it harder to grow plants there.
- Cheetahs need large expanses of land to survive. The encroachment of human habitation is a very serious threat for them as it decreases the size of their territory.
- Cheetahs are the fastest animal on Earth, running at a speed of 70 mph.
- Cheetahs are built for speed and are thin and light and therefore lose much of their prey to the bigger, heavier and more aggressive predators, such as lions and hyenas.
- There are only about 10,000 to 12,000 cheetahs left on the planet, most of them live in Africa with a small population in Iran.
- Cheetahs naturally lack “genetic variation”; this means that due to the small number of cheetahs on the planet there is a lot of in-breeding, making them more susceptible to disease and less adaptable to their ever-changing surroundings.
- Although a cheetah may look like it’s crying, the black marks which run from the inside corner of its eyes down the sides of its nose to the outside of its mouth are actually used to keep the sun out of its eyes and aid in hunting.
- Cheetahs are diurnal, which means they hunt during the day . This way they avoid competition from lions and other night hunting predators.
- A cheetah’s main threats are habitat loss, poaching, and pet trade.
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- Our oceans regulate the Earth's temperature and generate 70% of the world's oxygen.
- The amount of carbon stored in the ocean is roughly 50 times greater than in the atmosphere. The ocean interacts constantly with the atmosphere to absorb and release carbon dioxide. The ocean acts as a carbon sink.
- With the growth of eco-tourism, shark conservation is beginning to make more and more economic sense. Recently, Palau became the first nation on Earth to ban shark fishing in its waters. Sharks are worth more alive than dead.
- Shark finning is the practice of cutting the fins off sharks after they are caught and then throwing the carcass of the animal (usually still alive) back into the sea.
- Removing top predators like sharks from the ocean would result in an unbalanced food chain with some species developing at the expense of others.
- There are different types of fishing methods, such as bottom trawls that are dragged along the ocean floor or the use of dynamite, which seriously disrupt and damage critical habitats.
- About 73 million sharks are killed every year!!!
- Sharks develop slowly and take years to mature. They also have a low reproduction rate. These facts make the shark populations highly vulnerable to over-fishing.
- The whale shark is the biggest fish in the ocean.
- Whale sharks can reach up to 40 feet long; that’s approximately the length of a bus!
- Whale sharks feed on plankton and are harmless to humans. They are filter feeders with a huge mouth that is nearly 5 feet wide when open! A whale shark can have as many as 3000 tiny teeth in its mouth!
- The dorsal fin is enormous and can be over 3 feet high and its skin can be up to ½ an inch thick!
- Whale sharks migrate over long distances although they are slow swimmers, moving at speeds of little more than 3 mph.
- A whale shark can process more than 1500 gallons of water an hour through its gills!
- Whale sharks can live over 100 years.
- Whale shark meat is still eaten in Taiwan.
- The main threats to whale sharks are: Finning, overfishing, by-catch, shark products (liver oil for medicine), long line fishing, pollution, habitat destruction.
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