1 in 4 mammals face extinction: IUCN report

New Delhi: One in four mammal species in the world is on the brink of extinction, an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) report, which was released on Monday, revealed.

Red List of Threatened Species report is a comprehensive compilation of the findings of IUCN’s five-year-long research, during which it studied 5,500 species across 130 countries.

“The study shows that almost a quarter of them have either gone extinct or are facing extinction. So it’s a very worrying situation and we need to do something about it urgently,” Manager, IUCN Unit Cambridge, Hilton Taylor, says.

It’s not only the mammals who are doing a vanishing act.

Three hundred sixty six new species of amphibians have also been listed as threatened for the first time.

While the Cuban crocodile is critically endangered, Holdridge's toad has not been seen in the last 20 years.

But scientists say that the species can recover if adequate efforts are put in. Turning around the sharp fall in the number of wild horse, which survived its near-extinction stage, is just one example.

“By 2010, we should reverse and slow down the rate of extinction, the rate of the loss of species. So that is quite an ambitious target to achieve and we're very far from reaching that,” Taylor added.

The report claims that habitat loss is the biggest cause of this alarming trend.

In India, the status of the leopard is worrisome. The big cat has been red-listed for the first time. And the gharials are on the brink of extinction. Conservationists say it's now or never and steps need to be taken now before it's too late.

Red-listed animals