Archive Report
Archive Report
Endangered and Threatened Species
Consequences of an Expanding Population
One of the consequences of the world's expanding population1 is the further endangerment of the 250,000 species of animals and plants found on earth. Until this century, the hunting of animals for skins and food was mankind's principal threat to wildlife. Today, however, it is the influx of civilization that is the chief source of danger to wildlife in the United States and around the world.
“The expansion of cities, construction of highways and electric power dams, the use of poisonous chemicals in agriculture and industry, dumping of heavy metals in water, harvesting and conversion of forests, the increase in leisure activities that sends millions of people into wildlife territory…impose heavy pressures” on the world's wildlife, an environmentalist ...