Thousands of mammal species across the world at risk from European development More than 3,300 species of mammal are under seige worldwide as deforestation, development and climate change make it ever harder […]

More than 3,300 species of mammal are under seige worldwide as deforestation, development and climate change make it ever harder for them to survive.

Amur Leopards, gorillas and Vaquita porpoises are among the species that are most threatened, according to a new report which finds that the total number of mammals that are vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered continues to rise.

Indonesia is most ‘at risk’

The mammals of Indonesia face the greatest threat of extinction – with 188 species including Javan leopards and Anoas, or “midget buffalos” under threat – while Albania is the country where they face the least risk.

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Britain is ranked 41st in the league table of countries with the most endangered mammal populations. The country has 10 species in that category, with bats being most at risk. Britain’s relative animal stability compares to 35 vulnerable species in the US and 96 in Mexico, finds the report, which is based on an analysis of statistics from The World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund.

“The potential permanent loss of species in the wild is not just an issue for the nations themselves but for the entire world,” said Shreena Patel, lead researcher at The Eco Experts, the energy saving price comparison website which carried out the analysis.

“The potential permanent loss of species in the wild is not just an issue for the nations themselves but for the entire world,” Shreena Patel

Major extinction events are nothing new for the planet, but species are now dying out at an alarming rate, with the number of wild animals living on the Earth halving in the past 40 years, she says.

Europe is the region with the fewest endangered mammals, in part because they have more common mammals and less unique and rare species than countries such as Madagascar, the report finds.

Madagascar

Madagascar, a huge island of the south-east coast of Africa, is home to thousands of mammalian species, 92 per cent of which are found no-where else in the world.

Some 120 of the country’s mammals are considered to be at risk, including the ring tailed lemur, made famous by the animation film Madagascar.

But Europeans still need to take a good, hard luck at the contribution they make to wildlife populations elsewhere, the report notes.

“A lot of environmental destruction and deforestation in the most ‘at risk’ countries is actually carried out by European countries, so we are playing a part in decimating other countries’ native species,” Ms Patel said.

The East Asia and Pacific region has the highest number of endangered species, with some 918 at risk. Animals in danger of extinction in this region include the Bengal Tiger, the Sumatran Orangutan, the Asian elephant and the Sumatran rhino.

Ten most endangered mammals in the world (in descending order): Amur leopard

Gorillas

Sea turtles

Organgutan

Sumatran Elephant

Saola (like an antelope)

Vaquita (porpoise)

Tiger

Rhino

Pangolin Ten countries with most endangered mammals: Indonesia: 188 endangered mammals

Madagascar: 120

Mexico: 96

India:92

Brazil:81

China:74

Malaysia:73

Australia:63

Thailand:56

Vietnam:55 Ten most endangered mammals in UK (in descending order) Bats

Harvest mice

Hazel dormouse

Pine martens

Red squirrels

Scottish wildcats

Hedgehogs

Toads

Skylarks

Water voles

New species still being discovered

While species are dying out all the time it is also heartening that hundreds of new ones are being discovered every year.

Of course most of these have been living for thousands – if not millions – of years and so they are not offsetting the species we’re losing but their discovery is nonetheless uplifting.

A blind snake that likes to bury itself, a long fish that emits an electric charge and a snake that appears to have two eyes – but doesn’t – are among nearly 400 new species to be discovered in the Amazon region in just two years.

That’s according to a recent report by WWF and the Mamirauá Institute in Brazil which finds that a new species of animal or plant is being discovered in the Amazon every two days, the fastest rate this century.

However, because huge parts of the forest are being destroyed so fast, WWF warns that many of the yet-to-be discovered Amazon species will become extinct before we can find them. And last month, WWF revealed 115 newly-discovered species in the Greater Mekong region.

They include a mountain horseshoe bat, found in the evergreen forecasts of Laos and Thailand with a face shaped like a horseshoe. In a sign of how subtle differences between species can be, it took scientists 10 years to determine that it was a new species.

A Vietnamese crocodile lizard was also discovered in remote freshwater and forested areas of South China and North Vietnam. However, this is so heavily threatened by deforestation, coal mining and pet traders that as few as 200 are thought to remain in Vietnam.