Illegal Wildlife Trade: The Fourth Most Lucrative in the World

By: Daniela Silva

Behind a booming black market, drug trafficking, and the horrors of human trafficking the Illegal wildlife trade has become the fourth most lucrative trade in the world. There has been a unforeseen rise in poaching in recent years, threatening to diminish all the conservation efforts and successes of previous and future years to come. This being said, the illegal wildlife trade is worth $19 billion dollars and increasing as well as taking the lives of many endangered and critically endangered species. China, a country well known for the mass consumption of endangered species has now made it a criminal offense to eat an endangered species; it is now punishable by 10 years in prison.

Eating endangered animals and a various array of their parts has been believed to have contain various medicinal properties for generations in china; which in turn have been the base for illegal wildlife trade. The rhinoceros in our lifetime may become a thing of our past, simply because its horn is believed to cure cancer, cure hangovers, and used as an aphrodisiac. Despite this, Rhinoceroses aren't the only animal that are susceptible to extreme poaching. Tigers, bantengs, grevy's zebras, sunbears, Chinese alligators, tortoises, and many more are being killed for trade. What will it take to keep endangered species from becoming taxidermied in a national museums years to come?

Conservations and future successes may find themselves facing more difficulties as poachers try and cut corners to attempt to meet the demand for consumers eager for the produce they have been able to have access to for so many generations. Hopefully, China's new law is the change we need to see to help see the end in the poaching and killing of our endangered species.

One Beautiful, but Unbalancing, Result of Climate Change

By: Jessica Robertson

Climate change is responsible for many environmental shifts that no one appreciates. With climate change still desperately needing addressing, one recently recorded shift is something we can all enjoy visually, but hopefully it skirts any negative effects on the surrounding wildlife.

            Scientists who track flower blooming patterns within the meadows of the Rocky Mountains have noticed a surprising pattern. As the climate changes, the season for blooms has lengthened by more than an entire month. Thirty-nine years ago, when records first began, the beautiful flowers would bloom beginning in late May and flower until early September. The newest studies are showing the first blooms in late April and the last blooms in late September.

            No one wants to complain about the extended presence of flowers, right? If that were the only facet of the story, we could all be happy. However, since climate change affects the millions of Rocky Mountain flowers with more complexity than first understood, some flowers are responding in unexpected ways.

            With the changes, the flower combinations that bloom together are different than they once were. It is expected that these shifts will affect the insects, birds, and animals that rely on the changing plant life. Take, for example, the hummingbird; every year, hummingbirds nest deliberately so that their eggs hatch when the flowers are at their peak bloom, meaning plenty of nourishing nectar for the growing baby birds. Now, with the blooming season spreading over a longer period of time but the same number of total flowers, peak bloom holds fewer flowers for hungry bugs and birds.

            This summer, the study will continue, finding valuable information on how these changes do affect the wildlife. One researcher plans to study the hummingbird population, particularly. Hopefully the findings will show we can appreciate the extended presence of flowers and not need to worry about unbalance in this ecosystem.