Schaus' swallowtail butterfly
Name: Schaus' swallowtail butterfly
Habitat: Hardwood forests in Florida, USA.
Description: These butterflies are very pretty and have brown or black wings with yellow markings.
Why is it endangered?
As humans expand their cities, industry and agriculture they need clear land. Building requires wood too, and there are many commercial logging industries that operate just to get high quality timber from established forests. By chopping down trees and burning forests, they are destroying the habitat of the swallowtail butterfly and other insects.
But people affect these animals in other ways too. Insecticides are often sprayed over large sections of land to kill off mosquitos - but this does not do any good to butterflies either. Some people even take these creatures out of the wild to breed them, or to add them to their insect collection - this is particular problem for attractive species like the Schaus' swallowtail.
Not many people think about insects becoming endangered, but human activities pose severe threats to insect species.
Image bank - click on the pictures for more information.
The image of the swallowtail ( top row, far right) courtesy of University of Florida/IFAS
Find out about the extinct and endangered animals in the Museum.
Go to the Homepage to find out about hippos and the causes of extinction.