List of endangered species expands
Source: Agencies |
November 4, 2009, Wednesday
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A RARE tree frog found only in central Panama could soon croak its last, as deforestation and infection push the species toward extinction, an environmental group said in Geneva yesterday.
The Rabb's fringe-limbed tree frog, which only became known to science four years ago, is one of 1,895 amphibian species that could soon disappear in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Switzerland-based IUCN surveyed a total of 47,677 animals and plants for this year's Red List of endangered species and determined that 17,291 of them are threatened with extinction.
More than one in five of all known mammals, over a quarter of reptiles and 70 percent of plants are under threat, according to the survey, which featured over 2,800 new species compared with 2008.
"These results are just the tip of the iceberg," said Craig Hilton-Taylor, who manages the list. He said "many more millions" of species that had yet to be assessed could also be under serious threat.
The only mammal to be added to the list this year is the eastern voalavo, a rodent that lives in the mountainous forests of Madagascar. IUCN classified it as "endangered" - two steps from extinction in the wild - because its habitat is being destroyed by slash-and-burn farming.
The Red List already includes species such as the tiger, of which only 3,200 are thought to exist in the wild and whose habitat in Asia is steadily shrinking due to encroachment by humans. Governments and international conservation bodies use the list as guidance when deciding which species to place under legal protection.
The group added almost 300 reptiles this year, including the Panay monitor lizard and the sail-fin water lizard, both of which are hunted for food and threatened by logging in their native Philippines.
Some species have recovered thanks to conservation efforts, IUCN said. But for many others conservation efforts are likely to come too late.
The Kihansi spray toad of southern Tanzania is thought to be extinct in the wild. A dam upstream of the Kihansi Falls has dried up the gorge where it lived, and an aggressive fungal disease has taken its toll.
The Rabb's fringe-limbed tree frog, which only became known to science four years ago, is one of 1,895 amphibian species that could soon disappear in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Switzerland-based IUCN surveyed a total of 47,677 animals and plants for this year's Red List of endangered species and determined that 17,291 of them are threatened with extinction.
More than one in five of all known mammals, over a quarter of reptiles and 70 percent of plants are under threat, according to the survey, which featured over 2,800 new species compared with 2008.
"These results are just the tip of the iceberg," said Craig Hilton-Taylor, who manages the list. He said "many more millions" of species that had yet to be assessed could also be under serious threat.
The only mammal to be added to the list this year is the eastern voalavo, a rodent that lives in the mountainous forests of Madagascar. IUCN classified it as "endangered" - two steps from extinction in the wild - because its habitat is being destroyed by slash-and-burn farming.
The Red List already includes species such as the tiger, of which only 3,200 are thought to exist in the wild and whose habitat in Asia is steadily shrinking due to encroachment by humans. Governments and international conservation bodies use the list as guidance when deciding which species to place under legal protection.
The group added almost 300 reptiles this year, including the Panay monitor lizard and the sail-fin water lizard, both of which are hunted for food and threatened by logging in their native Philippines.
Some species have recovered thanks to conservation efforts, IUCN said. But for many others conservation efforts are likely to come too late.
The Kihansi spray toad of southern Tanzania is thought to be extinct in the wild. A dam upstream of the Kihansi Falls has dried up the gorge where it lived, and an aggressive fungal disease has taken its toll.
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