Threatened Wildlife in the Here and Now [Slide Show]
More pictures from a traveling photo exhibit of creatures on the brink
By Adam Hadhazy
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
View slide show
Humans have long been inspired by wildlife—consider the cave paintings of woolly mammoths. These rough-hewn sketches, along with fossils, are all that physically remain of mammoths, though they live on in our imagination.
Given the twin threats of habitat destruction and global warming, many present-day creatures face a similar fate as these departed animals. Someday, mankind may look back at photographs of wildlife from the early 21st century and wonder about those plants and animals that were lost to human carelessness and climate change.
View slide show
Organizers of the traveling exhibit "Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World" hope that images such as these will raise awareness about the potential dangers faced by creatures worldwide and help ensure their protection. Visit www.irreplaceablewild.org for more information about the show (set to run through April) and scheduled exhibit stops.
For more images, check out the previous slide show.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
