The Christmas Island pipistrelle, a bat species found only on an Australian island, has been declared extinct. The final nail in the coffin was hammered in as part of the latest update to the Red List of Threatened Species, which is maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very difficult to decide when a species definitely has gone extinct,鈥� says , head of the IUCN鈥檚 Red List unit.
But the last Christmas Island pipistrelle was seen in 2009. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a cryptic species, it鈥檚 got a distinctive call,鈥� says Hilton-Taylor. 鈥淲e probably could have declared it extinct earlier, but we鈥檝e been waiting for surveys.鈥�
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The Thongaree鈥檚 disc-nosed bat, a newly-discovered species that lives in a small region of Thailand, entered the list as critically endangered 鈥� just one step from going extinct. 鈥淚f we鈥檇 known about it earlier, it would have moved through the categories. That鈥檚 just what happened unseen until now,鈥� says Hilton-Taylor.
The new list isn鈥檛 all bad news for bats. The Rodrigues flying fox moves from critically endangered to endangered. Hilton-Taylor says that鈥檚 due to coordinated actions by the government and local organisations, including legal protection and habitat restoration.
Anti-antelope actions
The outlook isn鈥檛 so bright for five species of African antelope. The world鈥檚 largest antelope, the giant eland, is considered vulnerable, with a global population of 14,000 at most. Meanwhile the southern lechwe and grey rhebok are near threatened, and the mountain reedbuck and Heuglin鈥檚 gazelle are in the endangered category.
Much of their decline is due to human expansion into their habitat, as well as illegal poaching for bushmeat. 鈥淭here is a strong economic side to this,鈥� says Hilton-Taylor. 鈥淎 lot of people in Africa don鈥檛 have access to good reliable food sources and bushmeat is an easy path to income and food.鈥�
Droughts associated with climate change may also be leading ranchers to graze their livestock further into antelope territory.
Deforestation has had a devastating effect on invertebrates in Madagascar. The Rumpelstiltskin pygmy grasshopper, a flightless species only known to inhabit one forest, is critically endangered. Almost 40 per cent of Madagascar鈥檚 pygmy grasshoppers are threatened with extinction. Habitat loss has also put the shiny giant pill millipede, which lives in a coastal rainforest in Saint Luce, in the critically endangered category.
鈥淗abitat loss is one of the most invasive threats across all the species,鈥� Hilton-Taylor says. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if you鈥檙e on continents or islands.鈥�
For the North American ash tree, that鈥檚 not the issue. An invasive beetle called the emerald ash borer, introduced to the US and Canada in the late 1990s, has been foraging its way through forests across the continent and leaving death in its wake.
Five of the six most widespread ash tree species are now critically endangered.
鈥淭hey could well go extinct in the next 100 years if the beetle has its way,鈥� Hilton-Taylor says.
On the bright side the snow leopard, which was previously endangered, is now listed as vulnerable, thanks in part to efforts to reduce poaching.
