This long-eared jerboa (Euchoreutes naso), from the deserts of Mongolia, is living on the edge. Now its prospects could be improved by a scheme to protect some of the planet鈥檚 most unusual creatures.
On 16 January, the Zoological Society of London launched the EDGE programme to focus conservation efforts on mammals that are both evolutionarily distinct 鈥� with few close relatives 鈥� and globally endangered.
Prioritising species according to the threats they face and their evolutionary relationships is no easy task. 鈥淲e鈥檙e starting with mammals,鈥� says Jonathan Baillie, who heads the EDGE team. He hopes to extend EDGE to amphibians in the coming year.
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Saving EDGE species will not come cheap, so the team is seeking donations at . Work begins this year on 10 mammals, including the long-eared jerboa.
Ominously, an initial search for the top priority, the Yangtze river dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), in the animal鈥檚 former range drew a blank. 鈥淚t may already be extinct,鈥� says Baillie. 鈥淭his is a sign that we need to move fast.鈥�
