Animal Migration: An Endangered Phenomenon?

摘要

Animal migrations are among the world's most visible and inspiring natural phenomena. Whether it's a farmer in Nebraska who stops his tractor on a cold March morning to watch a flock of sandhill cranes passing overhead or a Maasai pastoralist who climbs a hill in southern Kenya and gazes down on a quarter million wildebeest marching across the savanna, migration touches the lives of most people in one form or another. Although animal migration may be a ubiquitous phenomenon, it is also an increasingly endangered one. In virtually every corner of the globe, migratory animals face a growing array of threats, including habitat destruction, overexploitation, disease, and global climate change. Saving the great migrations will be one of the most difficult conservation challenges of the 21st century. But if we fail to do so, we will pay a heavy price-aesthetically, ecologically, and even economically.