Numbers of most animal species worl

Numbers of most animal species worldwide are going down. For example, in the 1970s, there were about 1,200,000 African elephants. Today there are only about 500,000. In the 1970s, there were about 200,000 African lions. Today, there are fewer than 21,000. But there is some good news. For example, in the 1970s, there were only about 1,000 bald eagles. Today, there are more than 50,000. Giant panda populations also look to be increasing, but very slowly. In the 1970s there were about 1,000 pandas in the wild, today scientists think there are about 1,600.Animals worldwide are in danger for several reasons. First, people poison them because they want to kill them. This happens with lions, for example. Also, many farmers who grow food use pesticides to kill insects. Some animals eat these insects and die, too. This happened with bald eagles until farmers stopped using the dangerous pesticide called DDT.Second, there is habitat loss. In much of the world, people cut down trees. They destroy forests because they need land for farms and cities. This takes away land from animals. This happens, for example, with lions, elephants, and pandas.Third, there is hunting. People sometimes kill animals for food. They also kill animals for their body parts. For example, poachers kill elephants for their white tusks.More often, farmers want to protect their own animals—their cows and sheep—so they kill lions. Or they want to protect their land, so they kill elephants. In the past, poaching was a problem for pandas as people hunted pandas for their skin. Today, this isn’t really a problem for them.