Conservationists release list of 100 most endangered species under threat by humans

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Zoological Society of London and the Species Survival Commission have released a report naming the 100 most endangered species on the planet. According to the report, scientists and conservationists fear these species will die out because humans don't get any obvious benefits from them.

"The future existence of the 100 species in this book lies squarely in our hands. Do theses species have a right to exist, or do we have the right to drive them to extinction?" wrote Professor Jonathan Baillie, Director of Conservation at the Zoological Society of London, and one of the authors of the report.

The report, titled Priceless or Worthless: The world's most threatened species, provides a graphical list of all 100 species, from 48 different countries, that are identified as the ones that are next in line for extinction if no efforts are made to preserve them. According to Braillie, the report goes into specific detail about 25 species, "to demonstrate the diversity of life that is about to be lost."

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Of these specific 25, nearly three-quarters of them are at least partly endangered by habitat loss due to human expansion, agriculture and logging. The others are dying off from one or more of the following reasons: hunting, poaching, collection for medicinal use, predation by invasive or introduced species, or illegal collection for the pet industry. The full list of species shows a similar trend.

Each species listed provides information on the known population size, habitat and primary threats, as well as what action needs to be taken to spare the species from extinction. There were no species, plant or animal, on the list from Canada, but there are several listed from North America.

The report goes on to list more than 800 species that have already gone extinct, emphasizing the 100 species specified in the list are not the first, nor are they likely the last of the extinctions caused by humans.

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The authors of the report hope that by bringing the plight of these species to the public eye and listing the specific efforts that are needed to preserve them, support can be raised to maintain the biodiversity of our planet's ecosystem.