Posted on 05/02/2006 8:00:10 PM PDT by Graybeard58
GENEVA (AP) -- Polar bears and hippos are among more than 16,000 species of animals and plants threatened with global extinction, the World Conservation Union said today.
According to the Swiss-based conservation group, known by its acronym IUCN, the number of species classified as being in serious danger of extinction rose from about 15,500 in its previous "Red List" report, published in 2004.
The list includes one in three amphibians, a quarter of the world's mammals and coniferous trees, and one in eight birds, according to a preview of the 2006 Red List. The full report is published later this week.
"Biodiversity loss is increasing, not slowing down," said Achim Steiner, the conservation group's director general. "The implications of this trend for the productivity and resilience of ecosystems and the lives and livelihoods of billions of people who depend on them are far-reaching."
The Red List classifies about 40,000 species according to their risk of extinction and provides a searchable online database of the results. The total number of species on the planet is unknown, with 15 million being the most widely accepted estimate. Up to 1.8 million are known today.
People are the main reason for most species' decline, mainly through habitat destruction, according to IUCN.
Polar bears are threatened by global warming and melting ice caps, because they are conditioned for the icy environment and depend on Arctic ice floes for hunting seas. They are predicted to suffer a 30 percent population decline in the next 45 years.
The hippopotamus population in war-ravaged Congo, meanwhile, has plummeted by 95 percent, mainly because of unregulated hunting for meat and ivory in their teeth.
"Regional conflicts and political instability in some African countries have created hardship for many of the region's inhabitants, and the impact on wildlife has been equally devastating," said Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist at IUCN.
Freshwater fish have suffered some of the most dramatic population declines because of human activities that damage their habitat, like forest clearance, pollution and water extraction. In the Mediterranean, more than half of the 252 endemic species are threatened with extinction. Seven species, including two relatives of carp, are already extinct, IUCN said.
The conservation union warned that the decline in wetlands and freshwater ecosystems will also damage supplies for humans of food, clean drinking water and sanitation.
Other species threatened with extinction include desert gazelles, ocean sharks and Mediterranean flowers, IUCN said.
Some 784 are listed as extinct -- only a small increase from 2004 -- while 65 are found only in captivity. But the situation looks a little brighter for some others, such as the white-tailed eagle and Indian vultures.
"Reversing this trend is possible, as numerous conservation success stories have proven," Steiner said. "Biodiversity cannot be saved by environmentalists alone -- it must become the responsibility of everyone with the power and resources to act."
Fewer of the critically endangered species are in the U.S. -we've done a pretty good job in this area.
They're all being eaten by manbearpig!!! Al was right!!!
I WISH sharks were endangered. Hell, I wish they were extinct.
I've never encountered one that I had huggy feely thoughts about.
It's the law of nature and one you can't break without consequences.
It's the law of nature and one you can't break without consequences.
Yeah, really. Every time I hear about something like that, I can't help but think "Sheesh. What an idiot. What did they think would happen?"
When a tree hugger falls out of a tree and dies, great jokes pop into my head. It just happens.
You mean like these fruitloops?
http://www.adn.com/front/story/4110831p-4127072c.html
Dammit. I thought that said "hippies" at first glance.
If the evolutionists are right and all species go extinct sooner or later, then what the hell difference does it make?
Entire species have been going extinct for oh, about A BILLION YEARS! Why should it change now?
I read an article recently about someone who suggested meditating with your pet, and not to be discouraged if they don't co-operate at first. ?????
Won't something just evolve and fill in the vacant niche? what's to worry?
Think of the breading of cattle, sheep, and hogs. These species have prospered because of man. Admittedly it was a selfish endeavor, we were going to eat them, but that was God's plan in the first place.
How about dogs? Some breeds of dogs wouldn't exist without the intervention of man. I'm and English Bulldog lover. I've had two and they were the best friends a man can have. Loyal, stubborn, and obedient, but they will protect you and yours with their dying breath. Their intelligence is pure and clean, even if their farts are not. They were bread for the sport of bull wrestling in old England. The idea was to take the bull by the snout and wrestle him to the ground. Now, a good sized male will come in at about 95 to 105 pounds. Put that against a good sized bull! You got yourself a looong fight. But, because of the Bulldog's strength and his tenacity he usually won.
Enough about my lovely puppies. Man makes a heck of contribution to the animal world, and we deserve some credit. The American Bald Eagle, for instance. I could never shoot something that magnificent and beautiful. We have a family that visits us at our cabin in Wisconsin. I can sit out there in the morning, on my deck watching them fish for hours. It's truly a beautiful sight.
These people are totally whacked out. Species go extinct, that's the way it is. Something else will take their place.
Anytime any liberal/enviro/democrat (choose any combination of that group) opens their mouth to speak, the first thing that dies & goes extinct is the TRUTH!!
Here's a worthy corollary to that: if 15,000 of a species are insufficient to propagate it, how did ONE exemplar (there must have been a first one) manage to proliferate the new species in the evolutionary first place?
You know, the American Bald Eagle was saved in the lower
48 states by the Endangered Species Act. It was listed as
endangered in 1978, and relisted as threatened in 1995.
"Totally whacked-out" hippies and tree-huggers
saved the Bald Eagle from extinction in the lower 48 states,
by getting the use of DDT banned in the United States.
They forgot the ILLEGAL ALIENS and MUSLIM TERRORISTS.
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