Lemurs, whales nearing extinction, according to study
‘Red list’ breaks down threatened species into various categories
GENEVA — Nearly all of Madagascar’s much-loved lemurs are under threat, and almost onethird are just one step away from extinction, largely due to deforestation and hunting on the giant island off eastern Africa, conservationists say.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, updating its “red list” of threatened species, said Thursday the lemurs are increasingly imperiled — a key finding in a broad warning about the impacts of human activity on fauna and flora across the globe.
The Swiss-based conservancy also warns that North Atlantic Right Whales are nearing extinction: Not only are they increasingly ensnared in fishing gear but they’re colliding more with ships, possibly a result of climate change that drives their migratory patterns northward into shipping lanes.
The “red list” highlights the plight of some 6,000 species that are in the most danger, but also notes that, of the 120,000 species of plants, animals and fungi assessed, more than onequarter are threatened with extinction.
“It just helps underline the fact that we are moving into a sixth extinction era. It is all due to human activities,” said Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN red list. He cited human impacts such as the introduction of species to places where they don’t belong; the overuse of species; clearing of forests to make way for agriculture; urbanization; pollution; “and, of course, climate change.”
The red list breaks down threatened species into vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered categories, the last involving those closest to extinction.
Some 33 of the species of lemurs, which live only in Madagascar, are critically endangered — and 98 per cent are threatened.
“We now have less than 10 per cent of the original forest in Madagascar left. So, naturally, this has a huge impact on species that are dependent on those forests, like lemurs,” Hilton-Taylor said, alluding to “slash and burn” agriculture there.
IUCN also said fewer than 250 mature North Atlantic Right Whales were believed to be alive in 2018, marking a 15 per cent drop since ’11. Nearly all of the 30 confirmed humancaused deaths or serious injuries to the whales between ’12 and ’16 were due to entanglement.
Hilton-Taylor said the whales’ reproduction rates are falling, and cited a theory that warming sea temperatures could be driving the whales northward into the shipping lanes of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the northern hemisphere summer.