IUCN: 36% of the World’s Flora and Fauna Threatened with Extinction

The monitor lizard is under threat due to habitat loss and hunting by humans for food. All images: IUCN.

The latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is in and if you were expecting good news prepared to be disappointed. Of the more than 47,000 species surveyed, about 17,000 are at serious risk — of those 21% of the world’s mammal species, 12% of birds, 28% of reptiles, 30% of amphibians, 35% of invertebrates, 37% of freshwater fish and 70% of plants:

January sees the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity. The latest analysis of the IUCN Red List shows the 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss will not be met. It’s time for governments to start getting serious about saving species and make sure it’s high on their agendas for next year, as we’re rapidly running out of time.

- Jane Smart, Director, IUCN Biodiversity Conservation Group

 

One species which has entered the ranks of the extinct in the wild is the Kihansi Spray Toad, pictured above. At one time it had a population about at least 17,000 at the Kihansi Falls in Tanzania. However a dam upstream of the falls reduced water flow downstream by 90%, reducing habitat. It is suspected that a fungal disease finally doomed these amphibians.

Of the plants on the list, the Queen of the Andes (above) remains classified as endangered. Found in the Andes mountains in Peru and Bolivia, it only produces seeds once every 80 years, and then dies. Climate change is already impairing its ability to flower, while cattle ranching is also having a negative impact in some areas.

‘Lost’ Seabird Seen Once More

Up to eight Fiji petrels were seen over an 11-day period

One of the world’s rarest and most elusive birds has finally been seen flying in its natural habitat.

The Fiji petrel, a seabird that once “went missing” for 130 years, has been sighted flying at sea, near the island of Gua in the Pacific Ocean.

The culmination of a meticulously planned bird hunt, Birdlife International researchers sighted the birds 25 nautical miles south of Gua.

Up to eight individuals were seen and photographed over 11 days.

The 30cm tall dark-brown Fiji petrel (Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi) is one of the most elusive of all birds.

Originally, the species was known from just a single immature specimen, collected in 1855 on Gau Island, Fiji.

But then the bird “went missing” with no further confirmed sightings of it for almost 130 years.

Then in 1984, an adult was caught and photographed on Gua, then released.

Since then, there have been a handful of reports of “grounded” birds that had crashed onto village roofs on the island. Most were immature birds, of which a few died.

Due to the extremely limited number of sightings, the bird is also inferred to be one of the rarest of all bird species.

It is one of 192 bird species which are list as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Stinky lure

But while there have been ten unconfirmed reports of the bird at sea, with the latest a possible Fiji Petrel sighted around 400km north of Bougainville Island, until now there has been no confirmed sightings.

That was until in May, when scientists and volunteers working with Birdlife International and

NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, a partner conservation organisation based in Fiji, set out to find the bird in its natural habitat.

The search for the elusive petrel is described in a paper in the latest Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club.

The researchers lured the bird with a specially made food, made from finely cut fish offal mixed with very dense fish oil.

These were then frozen into 10kg blocks, which persist for over an hour in the water, creating a pungent oil slick which attracts petrels from some miles away.

On the second day of the expedition, the first Fiji Petrel appeared, approaching the chum slick from downwind, slowly zigzagging over the slick, and suddenly changing direction to drop onto a floating morsel.

In all, the expedition team believe they saw eight individuals over eleven days of observations.

“Finding this bird and capturing such images was a fantastic and exhilarating experience,” says ornithologist Hadoram Shirihai, who lead the search team.

In 2008, Mr Shirihai also rediscovered the Critically Endangered Beck’s Petrel (Pseudobulweria becki) a bird that was also only known from two sightings in the Pacific made in the 1920s.

“To see such a little-known bird at such close range was magical,” added fellow expedition member Mr Tony Pym, describing his joy at seeing the Fiji petrel flying over the waves.

More surveys in 2010 are now planned to to locate the breeding area of the Fiji Petrel, says Dick Watling of NatureFiji-MareqetiViti.

“Once we know the location, we can assess what needs to be done to turn around the fortunes of this species,” he says.

Source: BBC Online, Matt Walker

Turtle Thought to be Extinct Spotted in Myanmar

The rare Arakan forest turtle, once though to be extinct, has been rediscovered in a remote forest in Myanmar, boosting chances of saving the reptile after hunting almost destroyed its population, researchers said Monday.

Texas researcher Steven Platt and staff from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society discovered five of the brown-and-tan-spotted turtles in May during a survey of wildlife in the Rakhine Yoma Elephant Sanctuary.

The sanctuary contains thick stands of impenetrable bamboo forests, with the only trails made by the park’s elephants, said Platt, of Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas.

Plat said he and his team were able to reach the area only by small boat and endured round-the-clock torrential rains and bands of leeches before finding their first Arakan turtle on May 31.

“At this moment, all of the physical hardships of the trip were forgotten,” Platt said in an e-mail interview.

Native to the Arakan hills of western Myanmar, the turtles were believed extinct for close to a century until they started turning up in Asian food markets in the mid-1990s.

The local name for the turtle is “Pyant Cheezar,” which translates to “turtle that eats rhinoceros feces.” Sumatran rhinos were once found in the area, but vanished half a century ago due to hunting.

Scientists blame the near-disappearance of the turtle on their popularity in Asia as an ingredient in cooking and medicine. Known by its scientific name, Heosemys depressa, it is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and has proven difficult to breed in captivity.

The discovery in May makes scientists hopeful that the species can survive.

“Throughout Asia, turtles are being wiped out by poachers for the illegal wildlife trade,” Colin Poole, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s director of Asia programs, said in a statement. “We are delighted and astonished that this extremely rare species is alive and well in Myanmar. Now we must do what we can to protect the remaining population.”

Douglas B. Hendrie, a freshwater turtle expert from Education for Nature-Vietnam who did not take part in the research, said he was not surprised by the discovery because he had heard anecdotes of hunters and guides finding the turtle.

“That said, I think it is good to bring attention to the species,” Hendrie said in an e-mail interview, adding that it is an “an important part of furthering the aims of conservation.”

Platt and the conservation society recommend that guard posts be set up on roads leading in and out of the park to thwart poaching and that additional data be collected on the species to develop a conservation plan for it.

Source: Associated Press, Bangkok

Estimate: 300 – 400 Snow Leopards in Nepal

Photo Credit: ianmichaelthomas, Flickr

The preliminary population estimate of snow leopards in the Nepal Himalayas conducted by WWF in collaboration with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) has shown the presence of about 300-400 animals. The figures were recently released by the Government of Nepal. The study was undertaken with funding from WWF-US, WWF-UK and WWF-Finland.

“The population estimate was based on the model describing the relationship between sign (scrape) encounter rates, the snow leopard numbers assessed through genetic analysis and the habitat suitability assessment in the Nepal Himalayas,” says Dr. Rinjan Shrestha, Conservation Biologist with WWF Nepal.

“This model is useful for providing relatively good estimates of populations at landscape scales, when the conservation actions are urgently needed and when data gathering poses a challenge to developing and implementing conservation strategies.”

Snow leopards are widely, but patchily and sparsely distributed throughout the alpine ecosystems of the Himalayan mountain range. Their preferred habitat is considered to be rugged, non-forested landforms, dominated by cliffs, rocky outcrops, and ravines. Because this terrain is quite inaccessible to people, and because snow leopards are elusive by nature, very little information is available on their distribution and population status.

“The declining numbers of snow leopard due to the widespread poaching for bones and pelts, and retaliatory killing call for urgent and strategic conservation action”

- Mr. Anil Manandhar, Country Representative, WWF Nepal.

“Simple, inexpensive, but effective and standardized methods are needed to acquire reasonable estimates of snow leopard abundance and distribution in the Nepal Himalayas that can become the basis for a conservation strategy.”

“In Kangchenjunga Complex, the presence of 18 snow leopards shows the success of the Livestock Insurance Scheme (LIS) in involving the local communities in saving the snow leopards from retaliatory killings,” said Dr. Ghana Shyam Gurung, Conservation Program Director, WWF Nepal.

The LIS is being replicated in other snow leopard landscapes with a vision to save the snow leopard throughout its landscape ranging from Dolpo in the west to Kangchenjunga in the east.

In Nepal, the endangered snow leopards are listed in Schedule 1 of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973, thereby making it a priority species for conservation.

“The results from the present study is exciting and positive but we can not stay unworried saying this,” said Dr. Uday Raj Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal.

Source: WWF

Kenya’s Lions Could Be Wiped Out in 20 Years

The Kenya Wildlife Service says lions could be gone from the country within 20 years. The prime suspected causes? Habitat destruction, conflict with humans and climate change.

Kenya’s current lion population is about 2000 individuals, down from 2,749 in 2002.

The trend in lion population decline is disturbing and every effort needs to be made to ensure that Keya either stabilizes its population at the current 2000 lions or increases the numbers to an ecologically acceptable level

- Statement from the Kenya Wildlife Service

Estimates of the African lion population place it in the low 20,000s – down from an estimated 200,000 twenty years ago – across over 30 nations. The IUCN lists the African lion as vulnerable

Source: Reuters

Land Reclamation Ruined Sentosa Reef

Photo Credit: Ria Tan

A really saddening photo. I’m sure many Singaporeans don’t even know of this offshore reef off Sentosa. It is surely much more diverse and much more dense than the more publicly known Chek Jawa on Ubin.

Study: Amur tigers have effective wild population of just 35

Amur Tiger at the Zurich zoo, photo: Tambako the Jaguar via flickr

Though there are about 500 Amur Tigers left in the wild (with nearly as many in captivity around the world), the genetic diversity of the remaining animals is such that in terms of the species’ long-term viability there really are far fewer: Hence, the effective population being merely 27-35.

That’s the word coming from a team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of British Columbia, published in the Journal of Molecular Biology.

Lowest Genetic Diversity of Any Tiger Population
By sampling DNA from the cat’s droppings, the team determined that the genetic diversity among Amur Tigers is the lowest ever recorded for a wild population of tigers.

Not only that, but the tigers are segregated geographically into two groups which rarely intermingle.

The only bright spot in the research seems to be that 1) there is the possibility of reintroducing captive tigers back into the wild, and 2) the researchers found that in the captive population there are unique genetic features no longer found in the wild.

Conservation Has Already Once Brought Amur Tigers Back From the Brink
Even though the genetic diversity of wild Amur Tigers is astonishingly, and perhaps critically, low, even the population levels we now see is conservation success story. Due to habitat loss and poaching, by the 1940s somewhere between 20 and 30 individuals were left in the wild. Since then, conservation efforts and a ban on hunting them has increased the population.

Since the start of the 20th century, when world tiger populations were thought to be above 100,000, three tiger sub-species have gone extinct: The Caspian Tiger (which was so closely related to the Amur Tiger than some scientists believe them to be one and the same), the Bali Tiger, and the Javan Tiger.

More: BBC News – Amur tigers on ‘genetic brink’

Newslet – Small Pieces, Big News

France to quadruple solar capacity by 2011

French Minister of Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo plans to see some 300 MW of solar power installed by 2011, across the entire nation. Total investment in the projects would be €1.5 billion ($2.04 billion). Bidding for construction of the projects was opened on May 15.

France gets nearly 88% of its electricity from nuclear power. It currently trails behind Germany, Spain, and Italy in terms of total solar power capacity with a mere 69 MW installed.

Orangutan Population in Borneo National Park Declines 90% in 5 years

In what is a tragically graphic example of deforestation and political corruption combining to devastate an ecosystem, a new report from the Centre for Orangutan Protection shows that orangutan populations in Kutai National Park on the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo have declined 90% in the past five years:

In 2004 there were about 600 orangutans living in the park; today that figure is somewhere between 30 and 60, park officials said. The reason: deforestation and hunting enabled by state-sponsored colonization of the region.

The Kutai National Park has been changing into a city, complete with an airport, gas stations, marketplace, BTS towers, a bus terminal, and prostitution complex. Only time will tell, whether orangutans can survive in the area.The root of the problem with the Kutai National Park is a breach of duty committed by officials to get political and financial advantages. They gave away land spaces to people to win their votes in the local administration elections. They also mobilize people to seize the national park area. Their strategy to win people’s hearts by giving away the land seemed successful.

- Yon Thayrun, Centre of Orang Utan Protection

US Senate Reauthorizes Tropical Conservation for Debt Relief Bill Through 2012

The Senate reauthorized the Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Act, which in the last incarnation provides $115 million in debt relief to tropical countries over the next three years, in return for conservation commitments:

Under the program, first authorized in 1998, eligible countries—Bangladesh, El Salvador, Belize, the Philippines, Panama, Guatemala, Columbia, Paraguay, Botswana, Costa Rica, and Jamaica—will be able to avail themselves of $25 million in debt relief in 2009 and $30 million each year from 2010 through 2012.

Deforestation is a significant driver of global climate change, and we must pursue a variety of efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation in tropical and sub-tropical nations. This innovative program has provided critical support to developing countries in conserving their forest landscapes while reducing their debt burdens…

- Sen. John Kerry

Sheepdogs Used to Guard Troubled Penguin Colony

Photo via marcmc

Sheepdogs have helped to guard a colony of fairy penguins, and proven themselves to be very good at their job. So good, in fact, that conservationists are pondering what other threatened animals these K9s can protect.

A colony of fairy penguins on Warrnambool’s Middle Island off the south coast ofAustralia has dwindled dramatically due to attacks by foxes and wild dogs. However, their numbers are rising again thanks to their new bodyguards – two Maremmas, an Italian breed of sheepdog that bonds with the flock or herd of animals it is protecting.

‘We’re now starting to see some great results,’ said Middle Island Maremma Project manager Ian Fitzgibbons. ‘We’ve had our best penguin count since we began in 2006 with over 80 birds counted in one night and I think we have about 26 chicks on the island too.’

Using the dogs to protect this penguin colony was just an experiment, but it’s proven to be a successful one. Now, researchers of various other threatened animals can scratch their heads and ponder if a couple of Maremmas might just help our their own efforts.

via Earth Times

More on Protecting Animals:
California Voters Say Yes to Animal Rights
Scientists Say Great Migrations Need Protection
Supermarkets Join Forces with Humane Society to Protect Seals

Cheetahs on the Brink of Extinction, UN Report Finds

Source: “Cheetahs on the Brink of Extinction, UN Report Finds“, treehugger.com, Jeremy Elton Jacquot

Image from Martin Pettitt

Cheetahs are fast, but can they outrun extinction? According to a new report released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the speedy feline, which can reach speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour, or 75 mph (making it the world’s fastest land animal), is at risk of becoming the latest extinct species, The Independent‘s Ian Johnston reports. The report blames the cheetah’s downfall on the usual suspects: habitat loss and degradation, urban development and hunting. Current populations levels stand at 10 percent of their historic highs.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Breeding programs and other conservation efforts have had mixed success
To compound matters, efforts to breed them have proven notoriously tricky; cubs have a high mortality rate due to genetic factors and intense predation by lions, hyenas and other large carnivores. Inbreeding in smaller populations has only accentuated these defects, which include cramped teeth, curled tails and bent limbs — leading some conservationists to believe that they can no longer be saved. Some breeding programs in zoos, which used in vitro fertilization, have been successful — but not on the scale needed to save the species.

“Fewer than 10,000 adults in Africa, only 50 in Asia”
The UNEP report recommended that cheetahs receive increased protection in 80 percent of the countries they inhabit (the cheetah has already disappeared from 18 countries). The governments responsible for administering greater conservation efforts should focus on clearing migration routes that allow cheetahs to move between populations (facilitating gene exchange and improving species fitness) and on restoring their habitats. There are now fewer than 10,000 adults living in Africa — the majority of which are in Namibia (at last count, their number stood around 2,500) — and only 50 in Asia, adding to the urgency of the situation.

Two organizations working hard to rescue the critically endangered species include the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia and the Cheetah Conservation Foundation in South Africa.

More about endangered species
Cheetah Rescued in Kenya
AP Reports Proposal to Drastically Alter Endangered Species Act
Gray Wolves Are Back on the Endangered List… For Now