Question

Quite a few species of plants and animals are endangered in India. Why?

Answer 1

Hint: Endangered species refers to the type of species which are very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk because of factors like habitat loss, poaching and invasive species.

Complete answer: Species that generally face high risk of extinction are known as endangered species.
Quite a few species of plants and animals in India are endangered. Some of the common causes are mentioned below -
1.Mainly due to the greediness of human beings because of the commercial value that plants and animals have.
2.Humans are hunting animals for their skins, horns and hooves that are in great demand and a huge amount of profit.
3. Deforestation on a wide scale also harms the habitat of animals and the same leads towards the decline of the different species of trees as well plants. Ecological balance is also disturbed due to deforestation, which is considered harmful for both flora and fauna.
4. At the same time factors such as pollution due to chemical and industrial wastes, acid deposits, introduction of alien species and reckless cutting of the forests to bring land under cultivation and inhabitation, are also considered responsible for the imbalance.
Some of the endangered plants include Ebony tree, Umbrella tree, Indian mallow etc while few of the endangered animals are Blackbuck, Asiatic lion, Bengal tiger, Blue whale,Central Kashmir Vole ,Banteng.

Note: Species which are basically on the verge of vanishing from the earth are referred as endangered species while species which have died out completely are known as extinct species.
The publication that contains a basic record of all the endangered species (plants and animals, etc) is the IUCN Red List of Threatened species.