
30 Percent of Sharks, Rays and Related Species at Risk of Extinction
The first worldwide analysis of the extinction threat of all sharks and related species has just been published, and the news is sobering.
John R. Platt is the editor of The Revelator. An award-winning environmental journalist, his work has appeared in Scientific American, Audubon, Motherboard, and numerous other magazines and publications. His "Extinction Countdown" column has run continuously since 2004 and has covered news and science related to more than 1,000 endangered species. John lives on the outskirts of Portland, Ore., where he finds himself surrounded by animals and cartoonists. Follow John R. Platt on Twitter @johnrplatt
The first worldwide analysis of the extinction threat of all sharks and related species has just been published, and the news is sobering.
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With a wild population estimated at fewer than 400 individuals, South Africa’s riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis) is just a hare’s breath away from extinction.
Scientific fraud almost led to this tiny owl’s extinction. Species name: Forest owlet (Heteroglaux blewitti). Known locally as dongar dudaa.
This delightfully ugly, hairy, toothy pig has disappeared from most of its original range. But a few zoos are helping to save it from extinction.
Seven months ago things looked pretty bleak for the Mangarahara cichlid (Ptychochromis insolitus). The only habitat for this rare Madagascar fish species had been destroyed and the cichlid was down to its last three known individuals, all of which were males...
A primate that lives only in wetlands? That alone makes the Alaotran gentle lemur unique. But this tiny lemur lives in incredibly limited constrained habitat, which continues to shrink around it...
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You know that a species is in rough shape when a population increase of just 20 animals is cause for celebration. But that’s the case in northern Vietnam this month, where one of the few remaining groups of critically endangered Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus avunculus) has grown from just 90 individuals in 2006 to between [...]..
These small, aggressive crocodiles once dominated their habitats. That is no longer the case. Species name: Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) Where found: The Cuban crocodile once existed on quite a few Caribbean islands...
Oh what a difference a few years makes. Just four years ago, the rare California shrub known as the Indian Knob mountain balm (Eriodictyon altissimum) was poised to drop off the endangered species list after the threats to its existence had mostly been abated...
Hop on over to the photo-sharing site Flickr and you’ll find dozens of photos and videos of people eagerly feeding grapes to hungry iguanas on the beaches of the Bahamas.
This rare bat is only known from a handful of collected animals on a single mountain on a single Polynesian island. Species name: Fijian monkey-faced bat (Mirimiri acrodonta), the only member of its genus and the only mammal endemic to the Republic of Fiji...
We’re number two! The United States is home to 1,278 species at risk of extinction the second-highest count worldwide according to the latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species...
Here’s the thing about extinctions: They are very rarely witnessed. The last members of a species in the wild tend to go quietly into the night with no one to witness their deaths...
These small sharks pose no threats to humans. The opposite, however, cannot be said. Species name: Daggernose shark (Isogomphodon oxyrhynchus).
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