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Introduction to Wildlife
Wildlife is referred to species that have historically not been domesticated. Wildlife
includes animals, plants and other organisms that grow in the wild. Humans tend to
separate their species from wildlife in a number of ways. This chapter helps the reader
in understanding the difference between civilization and wildlife.
Wildlife traditionally refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include
all plants, fungi, and other organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being
introduced by humans.
Panthera tigris
Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grass-
lands, and other areas including the most developed urban sites, all have distinct forms
of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are un-
touched by human factors, most scientists agree that much wildlife is affected by hu-
man activities.
Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of
ways including the legal, social, and moral sense. Some animals, however, have adapt-
ed to suburban environments. This includes such animals as domesticated cats, dogs,
mice, and gerbils. Some religions declare certain animals to be sacred, and in modern
times concern for the natural environment has provoked activists to protest against the
exploitation of wildlife for human bene�t or entertainment.
The global wildlife population has decreased by 52 percent between 1970 and 2014,
according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund.
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2 Wildlife Conservation and Management
Food, Pets, and Traditional Medicines
Anthropologists believe that the Stone Age people and hunter-gatherers relied on wild-
life, both plants and animals, for their food. In fact, some species may have been hunted
to extinction by early human hunters. Today, hunting, �shing, and gathering wildlife
is still a signi�cant food source in some parts of the world. In other areas, hunting and
non-commercial �shing are mainly seen as a sport or recreation, with the edible meat
as mostly a side bene�t of it. Meat sourced from wildlife that is not traditionally regard-
ed as game is known as bush meat. The increasing demand for wildlife as a source of
traditional food in East Asia is decimating populations of sharks, primates, pangolins
and other animals, which they believe have aphrodisiac properties.
A mesh bag full of live frogs waiting for a buyer at Chiang Mai’s Thanin market. Frog meat in Thailand is
mostly used in stir-fries and Thai curries.
In November 2008, almost 900 plucked and “oven-ready” owls and other protected
wildlife species were con�scated by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in
Malaysia, according to TRAFFIC. The animals were believed to be bound for China,
to be sold in wild meat restaurants. Most are listed in CITES (the Convention on In-
ternational Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) which prohibits or
restricts such trade.
“
Malaysia is home to a vast array of amazing wildlife. However, illegal hunting
”
and trade poses a threat to Malaysia’s natural diversity.
— Chris S. Shepherd
A November 2008 report from biologist and author Sally Kneidel, PhD, documented
numerous wildlife species for sale in informal markets along the Amazon River, includ-
ing wild-caught marmosets sold for as little as $1.60 (5 Peruvian soles). Many Amazon
species, including peccaries, agoutis, turtles, turtle eggs, anacondas, armadillos, etc.,
are sold primarily as food. Others in these informal markets, such as monkeys and par-
rots, are destined for the pet trade, often smuggled into the United States. Still other
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Introduction to Wildlife 3
Amazon species are popular ingredients in traditional medicines sold in local markets.
The medicinal value of animal parts is based largely on superstition.
Religion
Many animal species have spiritual signi�cance in different cultures around the world,
and they and their products may be used as sacred objects in religious rituals. For ex-
ample, eagles, hawks and their feathers have great cultural and spiritual value to Native
Americans as religious objects. In Hinduism the cow is regarded sacred.
Muslims conduct sacri�ces on Eid-ul-Adha to commemorate the sacri�cial spirit of
Ibrahim [Abraham] in love of God. Camels, sheep, goats, and cows may be offered as
sacri�ce during the three days of Eid.
Tourism
Many nations have established their tourism sector around their natural wildlife. South
Africa has, for example, many opportunities for tourists to see the country’s wildlife in
its national parks, such as the Kruger Park. In South India the Periar Wildlife Sanctuary,
Bandipur National Park and Mudamalai Wildlife Sanctuary are situated around and in
forests. India is home to many national parks and wildlife sanctuaries showing the diver-
sity of its wildlife, much of its unique fauna, and excels in the range. There are 89 national
parks, 13 bio reserves and more than 400 wildlife sanctuaries across India which are the
best places to go to see tigers, lions, elephants, rhinoceros, birds, and other wildlife which
re ect the importance that the country places on nature and wildlife conservation.
Destruction
This subsection focuses on anthropogenic forms of wildlife destruction.
Map of early human migrations, according to mitochondrial population genetics.
Numbers are millennia before the present.
Exploitation of wild populations has been a characteristic of modern man since our ex-
odus from Africa 130,000 – 70,000 years ago. The rate of extinctions of entire species
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4 Wildlife Conservation and Management
of plants and animals across the planet has been so high in the last few hundred years
it is widely believed that we are in the sixth great extinction event on this planet; the
Holocene Mass Extinction.
Destruction of wildlife does not always lead to an extinction of the species in question,
however, the dramatic loss of entire species across Earth dominates any review of wild-
life destruction as extinction is the level of damage to a wild population from which
there is no return.
The four most general reasons that lead to destruction of wildlife include overkill, habitat
destruction and fragmentation, impact of introduced species and chains of extinction.
Overkill
Wildlife is an invaluable treasure but it is being exploited due to illegal trade of many of
its species.Overkill happens whenever hunting occurs at rates greater than the repro-
ductive capacity of the population is being exploited. The effects of this are often no-
ticed much more dramatically in slow growing populations such as many larger species
of �sh. Initially when a portion of a wild population is hunted, an increased availability
of resources (food, etc.) is experienced increasing growth and reproduction as density
dependent inhibition is lowered. Hunting, �shing and so on, has lowered the compe-
tition between members of a population. However, if this hunting continues at rate
greater than the rate at which new members of the population can reach breeding age
and produce more young, the population will begin to decrease in numbers.
Populations that are con�ned to islands, whether literal islands or just areas of habitat
that are effectively an “island” for the species concerned, have also been observed to be
at greater risk of dramatic population declines following unsustainable hunting.
Habitat Destruction and Fragmentation
Deforestation and increased road-building in the Amazon Rainforest are a significant concern because
of increased human encroachment upon wild areas, increased resource extraction and further threats to
biodiversity.
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Introduction to Wildlife 5
The habitat of any given species is considered its preferred area or territory. Many pro-
cesses associated with human habitation of an area cause loss of this area and decrease
the carrying capacity of the land for that species. In many cases these changes in land
use cause a patchy break-up of the wild landscape. Agricultural land frequently dis-
plays this type of extremely fragmented, or relictual, habitat. Farms sprawl across the
landscape with patches of uncleared woodland or forest dotted in-between occasional
paddocks.
Examples of habitat destruction include grazing of bushland by farmed animals, chang-
es to natural �re regimes, forest clearing for timber production and wetland draining
for city expansion.
Impact of Introduced Species
Mice, cats, rabbits, dandelions and poison ivy are all examples of species that have be-
come invasive threats to wild species in various parts of the world. Frequently species
that are uncommon in their home range become out-of-control invasions in distant but
similar climates. The reasons for this have not always been clear and Charles Darwin
felt it was unlikely that exotic species would ever be able to grow abundantly in a place
in which they had not evolved. The reality is that the vast majority of species exposed to
a new habitat do not reproduce successfully. Occasionally, however, some populations
do take hold and after a period of acclimation can increase in numbers signi�cantly,
having destructive effects on many elements of the native environment of which they
have become part.
Chains of Extinction
This �nal group is one of secondary effects. All wild populations of living things have
many complex intertwining links with other living things around them. Large herbiv-
orous animals such as the hippopotamus have populations of insectivorous birds that
feed off the many parasitic insects that grow on the hippo. Should the hippo die out, so
too will these groups of birds, leading to further destruction as other species dependent
on the birds are affected. Also referred to as a domino effect, this series of chain reac-
tions is by far the most destructive process that can occur in any ecological community.
Another example is the black drongos and the cattle egrets found in India. These birds
feed on insects on the back of cattle, which helps to keep them disease-free. Destroying
the nesting habitats of these birds would cause a decrease in the cattle population be-
cause of the spread of insect-borne diseases.
Media
Wildlife has long been a common subject for educational television shows. National
Geographic specials appeared on CBS beginning in 1965, later moving to ABC and then
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6 Wildlife Conservation and Management
PBS. In 1963, NBC debuted Wild Kingdom, a popular program featuring zoologist Mar-
lin Perkins as host. The BBC natural history unit in the UK was a similar pioneer, the
�rst wildlife series LOOK presented by Sir Peter Scott, was a studio-based show, with
�lmed inserts. It was in this series that David Attenborough �rst made his appearance
which led to the series Zoo Quest during which he and cameraman Charles Lagus went
to many exotic places looking for and �lming elusive wildlife—notably the Komodo
dragon in Indonesia and lemurs in Madagascar. Since 1984, the Discovery Channel and
its spin off Animal Planet in the US have dominated the market for shows about wildlife
on cable television, while on PBS the NATURE strand made by WNET-13 in New
York and NOVA by WGBH in Boston are notable. Wildlife television is now a
multimillion-dollar industry with specialist documentary film-mak-ers in many
countries including UK, US, New Zealand NHNZ, Australia, Austria, Ger-many,
Japan, and Canada. There are many magazines which cover wildlife including
National Wildlife Magazine, Birds & Blooms, Birding (magazine), and Ranger Rick (for
children).
The Douglas Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii) is an example of wildlife.
References
• Usher, M. B. (1986). Wildlife conservation evaluation: attributes, criteria and values. London,
New York: Chapman and Hall. ISBN 978-94-010-8315-7.
• Shepherd, Chris R.; Thomas, R. (12 November 2008). “Huge haul of dead owls and live lizards in
Peninsular Malaysia”. Traf�c. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
• Bélange, Claude (2004). “The Signi�cance of the Eagle to the Indians”. The Quebec History En-
cyclopedia. Marianopolis College. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
• “A Brief History of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom”. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company.
Retrieved 14 July 2012.
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