New PNAS Listing Highlights 515 Animal Species Worldwide With Fewer Than 1,000 Individuals Remaining

[hatrack]

A Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus), one of the rarest mammals in the world, in Ujung Kulon National Park. Fewer than 100 individuals remain in the wild. Image by Stephen Belcher/Dok. Balai Taman Nasional Ujung Kulon via International Rhino Foundation.

The giant panda, tiny tamaraw buffalo, riverine rabbit and Iberian lynx all have something in common: they join a growing list of animals on the brink of extinction.


Fewer than 250 northern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus krefftii) remain in the wild. Image by Fleshpiston via Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

A newly published study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences lists 515 animal species with fewer than a thousand individuals remaining. Overall, the report is grim: Earth is experiencing its sixth mass extinction; extinction rates are accelerating; and humans are to blame.


New Zealand’s flightless, nocturnal, kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) population has dwindled to around 200 individuals. Image by New Zealand Department of Conservation (CC BY 2.0).

Researchers evaluated 29,374 land-based vertebrates using IUCN Red List and Birdlife International data. They identified 75 mammal, 335 bird, 41 reptile and 65 amphibian species “on the brink of extinction.” The majority of these critically endangered animals are concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions, where biodiversity is highest. More than half of the species on the list have fewer than 250 individuals remaining.


An Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) cub. Less than 100 individuals remained in 2002. Now there are around 400, but numbers are declining. Image by Ex-Situ Conservation Program of the Iberian Lynx via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0 ES).

EDIT

https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/less-than-a-thousand-remain-new-list-of-animals-on-the-brink-of-extinction/

[wendyb-NC]

1. Thank you, for posting

This is important info we should all take to heart. We have already lost too many species due to greed and careless indifference.