Entropy: One quarter of mammals face extinction

One quarter of mammals face extinction
5:00 AM, October 6, 2008


Barcelona, Spain -- At least one quarter of the world's mammals in the wild are threatened with extinction, according to a international survey released today that blames the loss of wildlife habitat, hunting and poaching for steep declines.

The survey, assembled over five years by 1,700 researchers in 130 countries, is the most comprehensive study ever done to assess the status and future of mammals on every continent and in every ocean.

The Baiji, also known as the Chinese River dolphin, is one of the latest mammals believed to have joined the growing list of species that have gone extinct. Others are not far behind, such as the Vaquita, a small porpoise that lives in the northern part of the Gulf of California, as well as various monkeys and other primates in Africa.

The upshot:

The future looks grim for a surprisingly large number of the world's mammals. An international group of 1,700 scientists and other experts in 130 countries have determined that one out of four land mammals and one in three marine mammals faces a threat of extinction due to hunting, habitat loss, entanglement in fishing gear.

The bleak assessment did not fully factor in impacts from with global warming, that threatens to change food and habitat for many animals.

The findings, which were five years in the making, were released today at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, a meeting of 8,000 scientists, conservationists and officials from governmental environmental ministries.

The fate of the world's mammals may be worse than even the global numbers suggest, said Jan Schipper of Conservation International who was the lead author in the paper. The problem is what he called a surprising lack of information about 836 mammals in the global analysis.

"If you don't know where they are or how many there are, then it's hard to determine if they have viable populations or threatened with extinction," Schipper said. The mammal paper is part of the broader "Red List" of threatened species assembled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Given this uncertainly, as much as 36% of land mammals 61% of whales, seals and other marine mammals could face extinction, according to the results to be published later this week in the journal Science.

First global assessment in a dozen years...

(From the LA Times.)