25% of World's Mammals Face Extinction

by Terri Potratz | October 6, 2008 at 11:46 am

764 views | 58 Recommendations | 24 comments

A reevaluation of the Red List of Threatened Species, last assessed 10 years ago, has found that over half of all mammalian species' populations are falling and that at least 25% face the risk of extinction. The two major threats to mammalian populations are human expansion and hunting. Climate change also looms as a major threat, for once global temperatures rise many more species will undoubtedly be added to the danger list.

1800 scientists across 130 countries took part in the extensive study, which paints a stark future for the diversity of Earth's eco-systems and inhabitants as the environmental landscape becomes ever more volatile due to irresponsible human actions.

The biggest threat to mammals is loss of habitat, including deforestation.

This year's Red List looks at 5,487 mammals, and concludes that 1,141 are currently on the path towards disappearance.

This may be an under-estimate, the authors caution, as there is not enough data to make an assessment in more than 800 cases. The true figure could be nearer to one- third.

"Within our lifetime, hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live," said Julia Marton-Lefevre, director-general of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which publishes the Red List.

The authors of this report went further to warn against the world population against becoming distracted from the Earth's environmental crisis by financial issues that are plaguing countries worldwide.

"It's going to affect a few people, whereas the biodiversity crisis is going to affect the entire world. So there is a risk that because of the financial crisis, people are going to say 'yeah, the environment is not that urgent'; it is really urgent."

Asian primates face the greatest threat, as do other mammals in southern Asia as populations in this region grow rapidly.

The reducing number of mammals in Southeast Asia is being driven by illegal wildlife trade raising concern among global researchers.

"Curtail the trade of endangered species. It would do an amazing amount of good for stabilising the situation in South-east Asia, which is biodiversity hot spot," said Andrew Smith, one of the researchers from Arizona University.

Immediate conservation efforts are required in order to prevent, at least partially, the pending deterioration of many of Earth's species.

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altrugon

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:05 on October 6th, 2008

This is really sad. Aren't we going to stop before is too late?

jcarvin77

at 12:39 on October 6th, 2008

This is terribly sad. It's not just the fishing cat, or the orangutan or whatever other endangered animal you choose. Our actions are wiping out everything on this planet...including ourselves.

jcarvin77 has contributed a photo to this story.

158

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at 12:55 on October 6th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

This is sad in a way but with the world population expanding this cannot be stopped. I think major species will survive but some of the lesser known ones may well disappear. Some others may exist only in zoos.

Michael Staines

at 12:56 on October 6th, 2008

I took this picture at the Georgia Aquarium.

Michael Staines has contributed a photo to this story.

Karen Hatter

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at 13:46 on October 6th, 2008

Terri, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Fairbanks

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at 14:48 on October 6th, 2008

Sounds identical to the report ten years ago. The large mammals might be disappearing but the small ones are everywhere. Polar bears have been on the increase in Alaska, while moose and caribou, with large State efforts of building the numbers, are falling to wolf predation.

Terri Potratz

at 15:07 on October 6th, 2008

Your comment surprises me, Fairbanks -

Polar bear numbers are dwindling - perhaps there seem to be more of them on Alaskan land due to the accelerated melting of sea ice, they have no where else to go...

Some moose (miece?!) species, though not all, are endangered, as in the Nova Scotia mainland moose which was recently in the news. Most other species have healthy numbers and are designated as of "least concern" on the Red List.

Have a look at some recent NowPublic stories for more information on some of the animals you've mentioned:

Feds Want Rockies Wolves Back on Endangered List

Polar bear sitting in tundra without snow - signs of global warming

Polar bears resort to cannibalism as Arctic ice shrinks

The discussion around endangered animals and conservation efforts has been going on for some time, I agree, but to say that it "sounds identical" to a report ten years ago seriously undermines the urgency of these findings.

Instead of passing it off as more banter from conservation societies, we should be working towards a solution. I don't think we can afford to do anything but err on the side of caution, and do anything within our means to reverse these trends.

Fairbanks

at 15:24 on October 6th, 2008

Polar bears were on the endangered list in Alaska a couple decades ago. The population has tripled since, although they still cannot be hunted in Alaska. They can be hunted in Canada, but trophies cannot be brought back to Alaska anymore. The polar bears do not need the sea ice but go out there for the seals; the bears will come inland quite readily. Whether the sea ice is disappearing time will tell. Today is one of the earliest days the temperature did not rise above freezing in Fairbanks in the fall in a decade.

Terri Potratz

at 15:31 on October 6th, 2008

This has, and continues to to be, an issue that has been in the news a fair bit recently, as Sarah Palin tried to challenge the listing of polar bears as endangered in May of 2008:

As marine mammals, polar bears are regulated by the federal government, not the state. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne last week made the listing decision and said it was based on three findings.

"First, sea ice is vital to polar bear survival. Second, the polar bear's sea-ice habitat has dramatically melted in recent decades. Third, computer models suggest sea ice is likely to further recede in the future," he said.

Summer sea ice last year shrank to a record low, about 1.65 million square miles, nearly 40 percent less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000.

Polar bears rely on sea ice for hunting ringed seals. In recent years, summer sea ice has receded far beyond the relatively shallow, biologically rich waters of the outer continental shelf, giving polar bears less time in prime feeding areas.

The bear's numbers rebounded after the 1970s, but conservation groups contend that was in response to measures taken to stop over-hunting.

Polar bear researchers fear recent effects of the loss of sea ice on Alaska polar bear populations. A 2006 study by the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that far fewer polar bear cubs in the Beaufort Sea were surviving and that adult males weighed less and had smaller skulls than those captured and measured two decades previously -- trends similar to observations in Canada's western Hudson Bay before a population drop.

A U.S. Geological Survey study completed last year as part of the petition process predicted polar bears in Alaska could be wiped out by 2050.

Kempthorne rejected every one of Palin's points.

Fairbanks

at 07:33 on October 7th, 2008

I don't give much credence to Palin's knowledge of scientific matters. But, I wouldn't be the one to call on for evidence of Global Warming. The last decade has been definitely not warming here, and the past two summers have been miserable failures in the veggie garden department. As late as 1998 I would say the winters were on the mild side, but lately it has been back to normal. The polar bear issue was Development versus Ecology, as usual in Alaska since commercial coal deposits were discovered in the late 1800s. Resource development has been legally frozen for the most part ever since and the rhetoric well funded on both sides since Prudhoe oil was proven in 1969. A person needs a scorecard to know the players.

Rhonda J Mangus

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at 19:12 on October 6th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Babel-Fish

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at 03:01 on October 7th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. I think that there are concerned people that will stop this extinction problem I give you full marks for making us aware. There are many people doing what you are doing and I realy do not think that the worlds present finacial problem will stop animal lovers from donating funds in aid to prevent extinction of our mamals.

The polar bear unfortunatly maybe suffering a problem of enviroment abuse however we need to understand the orbit of the earth around the sun of which is not cicular. Thats why we have had ice ages and tropical ages. Our problems are not due only to greenhouse gasses but we should of course do our best in eradicating our polution.

We need to look at our own survival as well as our animal relations the fellow life on our world. Maybe just doing that would bring good answers to the total problem?

I personal miss the dodo its the animal that made us very aware of exstincion.

rumana husain

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at 04:00 on October 7th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff. however, i disagree with babel-fish's opinion that people will do enough to prevent animal extinction. if the human-mammal species was kind-hearted and unselfish, the world would be a different place!

cassy82

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at 09:19 on October 7th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser

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at 10:19 on October 7th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff. It's a sad but true fact that the world we know will be changing before our very eyes.

tipsytoes

at 09:09 on October 10th, 2008

I'm in love with this African Elephant .. clicked in Kenya!

tipsytoes has contributed a photo to this story.

JD Rucker

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at 16:26 on October 10th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Sadly, the mammal causing it all is not on the list.

travel_photography

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at 18:35 on October 10th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Nice story - sooo sad!

patgarcia

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at 06:10 on October 12th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Sri Lanka Army news

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at 23:00 on October 14th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

surfthearts

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at 17:56 on October 30th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

http://www.younggalleryphoto.com/photography/brandt/brandt.html

Have a look at the beauty of this photographer's work (link above that I stumbled), and imagine these creatures are not on earth anymore. I'm afraid we will follow closely behind.