Last year, Sir David Attenborough was asked to name 10 species he’d like to save from extinction, for a BBC Wildlife special called Attenborough’s Ark. Ever original, he decided not to include obviously endangered animals such as polar bears, pandas, tigers or orangutans. Instead, he chose more obscure creatures that need the limelight more.
His top-10 list included the olm salamander, which lives in the darkest caves of central Europe and can survive for up to 10 years without food; the Sumatran rhinoceros, the smallest and most endangered rhino in the world; Priam’s birdwing butterfly in Papua New Guinea; and Venus’ flower basket, a deep-ocean sponge that builds its body out of glass-like silica.
He had plenty of endangered species to choose from.
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List, which has assessed more than 65,000 animal and plant species, there are 10,820 animal species and 9,390 plants listed as “threatened” – meaning they have been assessed as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable.
To narrow it down a bit, 8,000 scientists from the IUCN Species Survival Commission, along with the Zoological Society of London, compiled a list of the 100 most threatened animals, plants and fungi in the world for the IUCN World Conservation Congress, held in South Korea in September 2012. The one characteristic shared by all the species on this list was that they have no obvious benefit for humankind – which makes their chances of surviving this human-centric world very slim indeed.
Following is an excerpt, 10 of the most endangered creatures in the world.
How many have you heard of?
1. Saola – a type of antelope that lives in South East Asia and is known as the Asian unicorn because it is so rare; there might be only a dozen individuals left.
2. Willow blister – a colourful, spore-shooting fungus found only in a small area of Wales in the UK. It’s in fast decline and a single event could wipe it out completely.
3. Vaquita – a very small porpoise that lives in the Gulf of California, Mexico, and is threatened by fishing nets in which it can get tangled and drown.
4. Western Australian underground orchid – a leafless plant that has a flower head of 150 tiny flowers and spends its whole life in the dark, feeding on fungus and a shrub delightfully called the broom honeymyrtle.
5. Angel shark – a flat, ray-like cartilaginous fish that hunts at night and is found only in the Canary Islands.
6. Amsterdam albatross – a huge albatross (its wingspan can exceed three metres) that breeds only on Amsterdam Island, a French territory in the southern Indian Ocean. When it was discovered in 1983 there were just five breeding pairs left; thanks to conservation efforts there are now about 25 pairs but it is still critically endangered.
7. Kaiser’s spotted newt – a brightly patterned amphibian once found only in highland streams of the southern Zagros mountains of Iran and now only in captivity.
8. Franklin’s bumblebee – last seen in 2006, it has the smallest distribution of any bee in the world and is found in an area of about 180 square kilometres in southern Oregon and northern California in the US. It’s threatened by habitat loss, pesticides and exotic diseases.
9. Durrell’s vontsira – a small mongoose whose habitat, a single lake in north-east Madagascar, is increasingly under threat from overfishing, rice fields and introduced species.
10. Javan rhino – probably the rarest large mammal on the planet, with no more than 50 left in the wild and none in captivity.
Why is it important that these rare animals and plants continue to exist? Perhaps simply because every living thing has a right to exist, just as we do. More importantly, however, we all depend on each other.
As Dr Simon Stuart, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission puts it: “All species have a value to nature and thus in turn to humans. Although the value of some species may not appear obvious at first, all species in fact contribute in their way to the healthy functioning of the planet.” Long may they live.
Written by Louise Southerden, an award-winning travel writer, author and eco-blogger based in Sydney, Australia. Follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook and read more of her work at No Impact Girl.
