Endangered Species Gallery

Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris)

Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris) snarling in the Bandhavgarh National Park, India. The Bengal tiger is found in India and other parts of the Indian subcontinent. It is an endangered species with estimated numbers of between 2, 000 and 4, 000 individuals. The rising human population in India has led to increasing encounters with wild tigers

© Louise Murray/Science Photo Library

Mountain gorillas

Mountain gorilla. Baby mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) playing in a forest, with the male silverback behind. Mountain gorillas are found in cloud forests high on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes between Rwanda, Uganda and Zaire. The high elevation and rainfall makes this habitat wet and cold. The adults eat many kilograms of vegetation daily (roots, leaves and stems) and can reach over 2 metres in height. A slow reproductive rate has left mountain gorillas vulnerable to habitat destruction, poaching and war, making them highly endangered. Photographed in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

© PETER J. RAYMOND/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

During an extreme heat-stress event at Melbourne's Yarra Bend Grey-headed Flying-fox

During an extreme heat-stress event at Melbourne's Yarra Bend Grey-headed Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) colony, where temperatures exceeded 43°C, in a desperate search for somewhere cooler and less exposed, Grey-headed Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) descend from the safety of the tree canopy looking for a cooler place. Ironically and sadly, this behaviour results in what experts call ‘clumping - where the number of bats in close proximity means that the animals get even hotter. It is often a precursor to mass deaths. On the ground there were already many dead bats that had succumb to this heat-stress event. 
Yarra Bend Golf course, Fairfield, Victoria, Australia.
 December, 2019

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