In the last few months the Western black rhino and the South Florida Rainbow Snake have gone extinct, as far as official recordkeepers are concerned. Less than 3,200 tigers remain as human development, pollution and climate change impinge on ever narrowing habitats.

Tracking these events is not easy. The worldwide arbiter—The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) —maintains a Red List of endangered species that has become the accepted standard. In the United States, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) establishes protections for animals on the brink. Or does it?

A recent study by scientists at the University of Adelaide and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) looked at which American animals made the ESA list, and which didn't. About 40 percent of the bird species listed by the IUCN didn't make the ESA list, and over 80 percent of other groups like fish, amphibians and insects. In total, 531 species that live in the United States and are listed by the IUCN didn't make the ESA cut.

See some of them here.

Being on the IUCN list isn't worth much, since it's simply informational. The ESA list, on the other hand, affords species government backed protection from things like development and hunting. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that maintains the ESA list, is often steeped in politics, which make listing species very difficult. There are hundreds of species under review by the agency, and those reviews are often delayed many years.

6 Comments

1. 1. scientific earthling 06:52 PM 12/14/11

   The biomass supported by our little planet remains constant over aeons. As the Homo sapien biomass increased species not specifically farmed by Homo sapiens decline. Result we have brought on the 6th extinction, and species we don't farm will die out.
   
   The biosphere however is a complex system of species, most of them microscopic, and vital for its stability. The Homo sapien has no knowledge of this, and it is inevitable that the current unstable biosphere will self destruct and restore itself in the longer term. Intelligence is relative.

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2. 2. JoeMerchant 06:57 PM 12/14/11

   "Maintaining a Red List of endangered species," while a worthy endeavor, is arrogant and insane in the face of the enormity of the task. How about a simpler approach:
   
   http://5050by2150.wordpress.com

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3. 3. ChazInMT 08:56 PM 12/18/11

   I for one am glad that the list stays small because it gives all the power to whacko environmentalists and CAVE people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) way too much power in making developmental decisions.
   
   A highway in Michigan remained un-finished for decades because of a bugs mating grounds. A huge solar power project in the Mojave Desert was delayed for years because of a Turtle.
   
   The people who scream "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!" use the ESA like a huge club with spikes when they could probably really give a crap less about the crawly thing, they just want to say "NO!" to anything that comes along.
   

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4. 4. JoeMerchant in reply to ChazInMT 09:07 PM 12/18/11

   It's not just the Citizens that do this... I have watched big money developers in Florida shut down small development projects via State and County regulations, regulations that are written to the effect of: If you want to develop a piece of land, you need to do a $50,000 environmental impact study. How big a piece of land? Doesn't matter. $50,000 for 1 acre, $50,000 for 1000 acres. Who do you think wrote that law for themselves?

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5. 5. Gray Lensman 08:31 PM 12/19/11

   Which highway was that? I live in Michigan and have never heard of this. You obviously are biased against environmentalist to categorize them as wackos. I have found most to be highly rational and knowledgeable. The fact that they care about the destruction of unique life forms and you don't give a crap says more about you. And don't blame the lack of governmental will to fund solar energy development on a turtle. Environmental impact studies are a necessary cost to doing business, just ask the people in Appalachian states when coal mining companies pollute their streams and wells.

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6. 6. ChapsBoy 09:40 PM 12/19/11

   And when you finish paving over the world, there won't be anywhere left to go to ...

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