Cross posted from El Mundo

The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provides a lot of bad news for biodiversity. The reason is that it says the West African black rhino, black rhino Western (‘Diceros bicornis longipes’) officially extinct.

Despite conservation programs, 25% of mammals are in danger of extinction. Reassessments of several species of rhinos show that, besides the western black rhino species, subspecies of white rhino in central Africa, northern white rhinoceros (‘Ceratotherium simum cottoni’), is on the brink of extinction and has been classified as possibly extinct in the wild.

According to IUCN, the Javan rhinoceros (‘Rhinoceros sondaicus’) is the same way, since it is likely that the subspecies ‘Rinoceros sondaicus annamiticus’ has become extinct because of poaching of what is believed to be the last animal Viet Nam in 2010. Although this is not the end of the Javan rhino, it does reduce the species to a single small population in Java. The main threats to rhinos are the lack of support and political will to undertake conservation efforts in many of its habitats, international organized crime groups linked to the rhinos, and increased poaching rhino horn commercial purposes.

“This update gives good and bad news on the status of many species around the world,” said Jane Smart, Head of Global Species Programme of IUCN. “We know with absolute certainty that conservation works if executed in a timely manner, but without a strong political will coupled with specific resources and efforts, the wonders of nature and the services offered could be lost forever.”