Environment

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

Invasive species threaten Australian wildlife

A number of unique Australian reptiles are being threatened by invasive species. This grassland earless dragon has shifted from vulnerable to endangered. It often falls prey to feral cats, as well as changes to the intensity and frequency of bushfires. Like most native Australian wildlife, the reptile is adapted to environmental conditions that existed before European settlement.

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

Killer pest

This cane toad is far from endangered, but the toxic pest is posing an increasing existential threat to Australia's wildlife. Since being introduced in 1935, the toad has wreaked havoc on the country's native species. Mitchell's water monitor is among the Australian reptiles to make it on to the IUCN Red List as critically endangered as a result, having been unable to adapt to the toad's toxins.

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

A precious species

Taking its name from The Lord of the Rings character Smeagol — aka Gollum — the precious stream toad is now listed as vulnerable, largely as a result of expanding tourist resorts and complexes in its Genting Highlands habitat in Malaysia.

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

A lucky rediscovery

But there is some good news for amphibians — four species previously considered to be critically endangered, possibly extinct or extinct were rediscovered in Columbia and Ecuador. The Carchi Andes toad was so severely impacted by habitat loss as a result of logging, agriculture and the spraying of herbicide that it was feared to have disappeared forever.

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

Junk food parrots

The population of keas, New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2017, is declining rapidly, mostly due to tourists who keep feeding the curious parrots junk food. As a result, the birds get used to trying novel food and end up eating poison baits meant to control pests such as rats, stoats, or possums, which destroy up to 60 percent of the birds' nests each year. You can see the connection, can't you?

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

No sand eel, no kittiwake

Black-legged kittiwakes rely on certain key prey, like sand eels. Lacking the food, breeding colonies in the North Atlantic and Pacific are struggling to feed their chicks. Globally, the species is thought to have declined by around 40 percent since the 1970s. The main cause is overfishing and alterations in the ocean due to climate change.

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

Fewer snowy owls than assumed

The snowy owl has shot up to vulnerable status, with recent population estimates much lower than previously thought. Climate change has hit the iconic Arctic bird hard, increasing snowmelt and reducing the availability of rodent prey. A quarter of bird species reassessed in the Red List, including the snowy owl, have become more endangered.

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

Reebok namesake in danger

Five species of African antelopes — of which four were previously assessed as least concern — are declining drastically as a result of poaching, habitat degradation and competition with domestic livestock. One of these is the grey rhebok, which the Reebok sports brand is named after.

Red List: Human activity threatens thousands of species with extinction

World's largest antelope in trouble

The world's largest antelope, the giant eland — previously assessed as least concern — is now vulnerable. Its estimated global population is between 12,000 and 14,000 at most, with fewer than 10,000 mature animals. This species is declining due to poaching for bushmeat, encroachment into protected areas and expansion of agriculture and livestock grazing.

Author: Dave Keating, Ajit Niranjan, Ineke Mules