3 Infographics: Endangered Species Edition

This week, I will be highlighting three infographics relating to – you guessed it! – endangered species.

The first is one by the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) on species of Sea Turtles. This infographic is also in celebration of World Sea Turtle Day, June 16th. The infographic explains different species of sea turtles around the world, and includes their endangerment status, location, as well as states the reason for their endangerment: bycatch (“the incidental capture of non-target species when fishing”), illegal trade and direct consumption, habitat loss and climate change. Also, the infographic provides information on how to help support sea turtles. Click through the picture below for the full infographic.

The second infographic is provided by Mother Nature Network (MNN) and is interactive, titled “The 100 most endangered species in the world.” With this interactive widget, you can view specific species information and a map with the location of the most critically endangered species in the world. The widget explores fish, turtles, birds and foliage from around the world. Click through the photo to interact!

Lastly, MNN created another infographic which shows the “Top 20 countries with the most endangered species”; Ecuador and the United States take the lead with about 2,000 and 1,200 species each (respectively), all the way to South Africa, with about 400 endangered species. The infographic provides a map showing the placement around the world of the more than 10,000 species that are endangered. Click through to see the full chart!

This weeks “The Best of the Rest” includes pieces of other endangered species information!

• The World Wildlife Fund created an iPad app called “WWF Together”, which is an interactive educational tool about specific endangered species, like giant pandas, tigers and polar bears. The app features beautiful photos of the animals as well as an origami game that allows the user to read about the species. This app won a design award from Apple recently for its “inventive interactions” and can be downloaded here. [*Note: this app will also be featured in a science iPad apps post coming in the near future!]
• If you are familiar with the function of bees, you know that they act as pollinators to fruits and vegetables that we consume regularly. Recently, bees have been dying out from the over-use of pesticides. The Huffington Post gives us a graphic that shows what our supermarkets would look like without bees – and the photos are terrifying. Say goodbye to almost everything in the produce section!

Stay tuned for the spotlight post for this week on Friday!