Harry the Hippo Explains HIPPCO

Harry the Hippo explains hippco by frances mackinnon

Harry the Hippo explains hippco

by frances mackinnon

H ello! I’m H ar r y t he Hippo and t o day I’m going t o t eac h you about HIPPCO. H IPPCO is how scie ntists ex plain why so many animals go ext i n ct . Now what does t hat all mean?

Read t his book t o find out!

i s f o r h a b i tat l o s s

Ha b i t at l oss i s the proce ss where hum ans des tro y t h e p l ace s whe re an i mal s l i ve . H abitat m eans wh e re an i mal s l i ve . The re are t hree m ain types o f h a b i t a t l oss:

destruction

Destruction is when the land is completely destroyed. This means that animals are unable to live there because there is no shelter, food, water supply, or place to raise their young

degradation

Degradation is when the habitat is hurt and can not work properly.

This means that animals often have to move because they cannot live there anymore. Pollution, development, and invasive species can cause degradation

fragmentation

Fragmentation is when the land is broken up so animals do not have a big area to live in. Farming and development are the main causes of fragmentation.

is for Invasive species

I n v a s i v e s p e c i e s are pl ants or an i mal s that are put in p l a c e s t h e y a re not ori gi n al l y f rom. B ec aus e they are n o t f ro m t h e re, the y take ove r the l andsc ape and m ake i t i m p o ss i b l e f or the n ati ve pl ants an d anim als to live or thrive.

how do invasive species go places?

Th e re are a l ot of ways f or i nvasive spec ies t ra v e l arou nd the worl d. M ostly, invas ive spec ies a re move d by hu man s. Sometimes humans m o ve i n v asi ve spe ci e s on purpose, no t kno w ing w hat wi l l happe n , bu t othe r ti me s invasive spec ies t ra v e l al ongsi de hu man s wi t ho ut them even k n o w i ng u nti l i t ’s too l ate .

examples of invasive species

Nort h A meric a Asian Carp

Europe

Zebra Muscles

Aust ra lia Cane Toad

Sout h A fric a

European Starling

Sout hea stern Un ited S t a tes So u th A m er i ca

Small Indian Mongoose

Kudzu

i s f o r p o p u l at i o n g r o w t h

S i n c e t he 1 80 0s, the amoun t of peo ple o n ea r t h h as rapi dl y i ncrease d. B e caus e there are s o m a n y pe opl e on earth now, humans have a b i g g e r i mpact on the earth. h u m a n p o p u l at i o n o v e r t i m e

This graph shows that for a long time there were very few humans on earth, and then all of a sudden a lot more of you showed up! Let’s see what that means for animals like me.

l e s s s pa c e

Beca u s e t h e re a re s o man y pe opl e now the re is l e ss ro o m f o r a n i m al s. Thi s mean s that popula ti o n g ro wt h m a ke s habi tat de structi on wor s e.

h u m a n i m pa c t

Humans ki l l an i mal s thro ugh po ac hing, transportati on acci de n ts, an d the intro duc tio n o f n on - n ati ve pre dators.

h e a lt h p r o b l e m s Hu ma n s p o l l u t e a n d take u p a l ot of space so the y m a ke t h e a rea s w he re ani mal s l i ve u nh ea lt h y a n d c a n c a u s e heal th probl e ms f or a ni ma ls .

is for Pollution

Po l l u t i o n i s whe n poi sonous subs tanc es enter a n e n v i ronme nt. The y harm the anim al’s habit a t a n d can hu rt the m too.

Pollution comes in all shapes and sizes.

Anytime humans release things into the e n v i r o n m e n t i t c a n b e p o l l u t i o n . T h at ’ s w h y y o u s h o u l d a l w ay s b e c a r e f u l o f l i t e r i n g .

Li t e ri n g i s n ot throwi n g away y o ur garbage and i nstead l eavi n g i t i n the e n vi ronment a rou nd you. That hu rts ani mals .

i s f o r c l i m at e c h a n g e

O v e r t i me the earth has gotte n w armer bec a u s e o f hu man acti vi ty. W he n the earth gets wa r m e r, i t be come s more di ff i cult fo r anim als t o s u r v i ve .

Climate change happens in all sorts of ways, but it’s affect is hurting animals.

The earth is changing and animals are having a hard time adapting to those changes.

As the earth gets warmer it becomes harder for animals to survive causing the mass extinction we see today.

i s f o r o v e r e x p l o i tat i o n

A n i m a l s are val u abl e to humans fo r m any reas o ns .

Fro m eati n g meat to havi ng exotic pets, humans view a n i m a l s as re source s whi ch means they o ften m is treat a n i m a l s f or mone y. ove rexpl oi tatio n m eans using anim a l s t oo much whi ch can cause s pec ies to go extinc t

T y p e s o f o v e r e x p l o i tat i o n

Exotic Pets

Poaching

Fishing

We l l n o w y ou know a litt le more about H IP P CO. We all hav e t o c ome t oge the r t o t r y a nd st op t he effec t s of H I PPCO f ro m m aking more animals g o extinct.

A n i ma l s like me, H arr y t he H ippo, and m y f r i ends.