We chose this photo of a peregrine falcon—a female, walking across the rail of a balcony in Chicago—to inspire hope on Endangered Species Day. Not every animal listed as endangered is doomed to extinction. Peregrine populations were decimated by the use of pesticides, such as DDT, in the mid-20th century. The chemicals accumulated in the birds’ bodies, causing weak eggshells and high mortality rates for chicks. But by the 1980s humans had learned the cause, reduced and eliminated the various chemicals, and helped the birds rebound with gusto.
It’s Endangered Species Day
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
White dunes, blue lagoons
-
Winter in Old Nuuk
-
Dyavolski Most
-
Racers pushing past sunflowers in the 2018 Tour de France
-
Craig Goch Dam in the Elan Valley of Wales
-
San Francisco’s City Hall illuminated by the iconic colors of Pride
-
Coming home to roost
-
An enduring vision
-
A predator at risk
-
Macro photograph of a migrant hawker dragonfly
-
A Carpathian Christmas celebration
-
Thomas Edison s bright idea
-
Venice s grand regatta
-
Penn Station
-
Bavljenac Island
-
A gorge-ous mill in the Causses
-
Monet still makes an impression
-
Aerial view of a heart-shaped field in Trittau, Germany
-
Central Highlands of Vietnam
-
Denali National Park