THE NEW AGE OF EXTINCTIONHow Climate Change is causing A New Age of Extinction. As the globe warms, more than the climate is endangered. Species are vanishing at a scary rate. We’re the cause – but we’re also the solution | by Bryan Walsh | Time | April 13, 200910 Species on the BrinkMany of the planet’s most endangered creatures are also its most remarkable. It’s unfortunate whenever an animal species faces extinction, but we’ll miss some more than others. Here are a few of nature’s superstars from Asia, the Americas, the Pacific and elsewhere that may soon be no more.1. Javan Rhinoceros | Number remaining: fewer than 60 | Habitat: Indonesia and Vietnam | Status: Perhaps the planet’s rarest large mammal. Its horn is prized by poachers, and its forests are prized by developers. Both could spell doom for the species.2. Black-Footed Ferret | Number remaining: about 1,000 | Habitat: North American Great Plains | Status: The continent’s only native ferret and one of its most endangered mammals. In 1986, there were only 18 individuals left, but the species is clawing back.3. Vaquita | Number remaining: 200 to 300 | Habitat: Gulf of California | Status: One of the rarest cetaceans in the world, it is endangered by both its limited range and the ease with which it gets caught in fishing nets.4. Borneo Pygmy Elephant | Number remaining: about 1,500 | Habitat: Northern Borneo | Status: Shorter than the Asian elephant by about 50 cm, it is also more docile. Palm plantations have reduced its range, leaving it crowded it for space.5. Cross River Gorilla | Number remaining: fewer than 300 | Habitat: Nigeria and Cameroon | Status: Thought to be extinct in the 1980, the species is holding on, for now. Hunted for bush meat and crowded out by development, it may not last long.6. Giant Panda | Number remaining: fewer than 2,000 | Habitat: China, Burma, Vietnam | Status: Loss and fragmentation of habitat are to blame for the panda’s perilous state. Captive breeding and species protection are helping the panda hang on – barely.7. Sumatran Tiger | Number remaining: fewer than 600 | Habitat: Sumatra, in Indonesia | Status: Has lived only in Sumatra for a million years, making it hard to escape human expansion. Most survivors are in protected reverses, but about 100 aren’t.8. Polar Bear | Number remaining: fewer than 25,000 | Habitat: The circumpolar Arctic | Status: Human development and poaching have long threatened the polar bear, but climate change and the loss of sea ice are now pushing it onto the critical list.9. Golden-Headed Langur | Number remaining: fewer than 70 | Habitat: Vietnam | Status: All but wiped out, the primate was placed under protection in 2000. It is still in grave danger, but in 2003 its numbers rose for the first time in decades.10. Mekong Giant Catfish | Number remaining: hundreds | Habitat: Mekong region of Southeast Asia | Status: Prized for its enormous size (the largest ever caught was 293 kg), it is now protected in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, but fishing goes on.-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- Animal Under SiegeThe earth supports amazing biodiversity, but much wildlife is coming under threat from one particularly successful species: usAlaska | Climate Change | Even if we do manage to reduce forest loss and stop wildlife trade, a greater threat looms on the horizon: global warming. As the climate changes rapidly, the territory to which species have adapted may become unlivable faster that they can respond. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has reported that warming could put as much as 70% of species at a great risk of extinction – with Arctic animals like the polar bear potentially among the first to go.A ban on hunting is slowly allowing the North Atlantic right whale to return from the brink of extinction.Brazil | Deforestation and Habitat Loss | Tropical forests are home to the greatest concentration of biodiversity on the planet – but when the trees are lost, species soon follow. From 1990 to 2005, the world lost 172 million acres (70 million hectares) of forest – much of it in South American countries like Brazil, where deforestation has accelerated as land is cleared for pastures.Widespread deforestation on the island of Madagascar has put unique species like the greater bamboo lemur at serious risk of extinction.Peru’s rich fishing grounds are being fouled by coastal pollution, putting seabirds like the Peruvian tern on the endangered-species list.The Amazon rain forest is the most biodiverse place on earth, but logging imperils animals like the jaguar.India | Human Encroachment | With a population of 6.7 billion – and set to pass 9 billion by 2050 – human beings are crowding out other species through sheer numbers. As a rising middle class in countries like India begins consuming at Western rates, we could leave little room for wildlife.
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