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One-fifth of fish species in the Mekong river face the threat of extinction, according to a new report from a coalition of regional and international environmental groups. The Mekong — among the world’s most biodiverse rivers, surpassed only by the Amazon and the Congo — is home to some 1,148 recognised species of fish, with millions of people relying on its waters for their incomes. But it faces a multitude of threats, according to environmentalists, […]
By Lucie AUBOURG Humans are driving the loss of entire branches of the “Tree of Life,” according to a new study published on Monday which warns of the threat of a sixth mass extinction. “The extinction crisis is as bad as the climate change crisis. It is not recognized,” said Gerardo Ceballos, professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and co-author of the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). […]
UN biodiversity talks opened in Montreal on Wednesday, in what is being billed as the “last best chance” to save the planet’s species and ecosystems from irreversible human destruction. What do all of these species have in common? They have all gone extinct due to human activities. Extinction is a natural process and, in fact, 99% of the four billion species that have existed on our planet have disappeared. It is balanced by the evolution […]
by Shafiqul ALAM Agence France-Presse SARAIL, Bangladesh (AFP) — In a rickety hut on the border with Bangladesh and India, two brothers are among the last local breeders of the Sarail hound, a dog on the brink of extinction. Tall and lean with a powerful chest, pointed ears and bi-coloured fur, the rare hound — named after the border town of Sarail — has been treasured in the South Asian nation for centuries. Their sharp eyesight […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Fireflies are in deep trouble, with many species facing extinction due to habitat loss and exposure to pesticides, according to the first major review of their global status, published Monday. Adding irony to injury, one of Nature’s most entrancing spectacles is also being snuffed out by artificial light pollution, researchers reported in the journal BioScience. More than 2,000 species of fireflies — which are, in fact, beetles — […]
(AFP) — Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, under severe stress in a warmer, more acidic ocean, has returned from near-extinction five times in the past 30,000 years, researchers said Monday. And while this suggests the reef may be more resilient than once thought, it has likely never faced an onslaught quite as severe as today, they added. “I have grave concerns about the ability of the reef in its current form to survive the pace of […]
Reuters — Sixty percent of the world’s primates are at risk of extinction. That’s the stark warning issued by 31 of the world’s leading primatologists. The academics have published an article in the journal Science Advances entitled ‘Impending extinction crisis of the world’s primates: Why primates matter’. They warn that without immediate efforts to protect tropical forests from “unsustainable pressures”, humans could precipitate a mass extinction of our closest biological relatives. The report also states […]
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (Reuters) — When conservationists discovered the world’s newest crocodile species after years of sloshing through mangroves and swamps from Senegal to Uganda, the elation was tempered by the knowledge that it was on a path to extinction. Now, in its struggle to survive, the West African Slender-snouted Crocodile’s fate is tied to a zoo in the heart of Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan, that itself faced an uncertain future not long ago. […]
by Ben Sheppard Agence France-Presse HARTBEESPOORT, South Africa (AFP) — Lounging in the shade of a tree, Heathcliff the cheetah oozes sleek grace and power, but he is captive behind a wire fence — perhaps the only way that cheetahs will exist in a few decades’ time. A major survey released last week revealed that just 7,100 adult cheetahs remain in the wild, and that the species faces extinction without urgent new protection measures. At […]
by Karl MALAKUNAS DAVAO, Philippines (AFP) — Surprisingly loud chirps accompany a clumsy flurry of tiny wings as a wispy-haired chick breaks through its shell, its birth offering rare cause for celebration in the struggle to save the Philippine eagle from extinction. Tropical rainforest destruction and relentless hunting have decimated the population of the majestic bird — one of the world’s biggest and most powerful — with just hundreds believed to be left in the […]
