- More than a quarter of all species evaluated, more than 40,000, are at risk of extinction.
- Of the 201 endangered species listed, 10 are increasing populations and 12 are stabilizing.
- Species including mountain gorillas, Siamese crocodiles, and Chinese magnolias have all experienced growth in their populations.
Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story misidentified the World Wildlife Fund.
In an age where discussions about our planet’s health and future increasingly fuel fear and anxiety, conservation victories that have saved several species from extinction offer a glimmer of hope.
In a statement released earlier this month, Fauna and Flora International, the world’s oldest international wildlife conservation organization, listed several species that have since recovered from near extinction.
According to the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, over a quarter of all species assessed, more than 40,000, are threatened with extinction. Of the 201 endangered species listed, 10 are increasing populations and 12 are stabilizing.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report last August, which UN Secretary-General António Guterres called an “atlas of human suffering and a crushing indictment of failed climate leadership”, as well as a “red code. for humanity “.
The IPCC report noted that plants and animals have already exceeded their tolerance thresholds for increased heat waves, droughts and floods, which are causing “mass mortality in species such as trees and corals.”
Hoesung Lee, president of the IPCC, said the report highlights “the interdependence of climate, biodiversity” and the dire consequences of inaction.
“Half measures are no longer an option,” Lee said.
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This Earth Day recognizes these animal and plant species that have almost ceased to exist.
arabic oryx
The Arabian oryx, a desert antelope in southern Yemen, was nearly decimated by hunters until a breeding program was established to catch the last remaining wild oryx.
The hunt continues to pose a serious threat to the oryx, according to FFI, which helped launch a breeding program that led to the species’ remarkable recovery three decades later.
The oryx was the world’s first example of the successful reintroduction of an animal declared extinct in the wild back to its original habitat. In 1982, a heavily guarded herd of 10 oryxes was released into the open desert in central Oman to be intensively studied while living independently. Today, over 1,000 Arabian oryxes roam the Middle East.
The species was reclassified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2011.
mountain gorilla
A combination of hunting and habitat destruction over the course of the 20th century brought the extremely rare primate mountain gorilla to the brink of extinction.
Two isolated populations of mountain gorillas live in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and on the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
About 1,063 mountain gorillas remain in the world today, according to FFI. In 2018, the species went from “critically endangered” to “endangered” status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Now that the population is growing, conservationists will expand the gorilla’s habitat and “allow endangered species to thrive,” the African Wildlife Foundation said.
In 2018, the park expanded the protected area for the first time in nearly 30 years through a donation from the AWF, which donated a nearly 69-acre plot of land adjacent to the Volcanoes National Park to the Rwanda Development Board.
The donation and collaboration between the AWF and the government of Rwanda has resulted in an innovative conservation strategy that adds 9,242 acres of woodland habitat for Rwanda’s mountain gorillas.
Pemba’s flying fox
The Pemba flying fox, Africa’s largest fruit bat with a 5.5-foot wingspan, found only on the remote island of Pemba off the coast of Tanzania, nearly went extinct 30 years ago.
These bats hang from trees in large colonies and feed on flowers, leaves and fruit. Once an island rich in coastal forest where rare bats could thrive, their home has shrunk due to deforestation, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
According to the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, the East African coastal forest, home to the Pemba flying fox, is a biodiversity hotspot with over 500 endemic plants and 37 endemic vertebrates.
Conservation efforts to save the endangered fruit bat began in 1995 and inspired the government to enact regulations across the island, resulting in a dramatic recovery of the bat population from a few hundred to over 22,000.
Iberian lynx
The wild Iberian lynx is the most endangered feline species in the world whose population has migrated away from their original habitat on the Iberian Peninsula.
At one point their population was thought to be less than 100 due to loss of cork oak forest habitat and rabbit prey.
An initiative to protect and manage 49,420 acres of the animal’s habitat in southern Portugal some 20 years ago led to the successful reintroduction of this critically endangered wildcat. Conservation measures have seen its population exceed 400, according to the WWF.
Siamese crocodile
Cambodia is home to around 250 of the surviving wild population of Siamese crocodiles living in the remote wilderness of the Cardamom Mountains.
The freshwater species was widespread throughout mainland Southeast Asia but has disappeared from 99% of its former wetland habitats, according to FFI.
Since the endangered reptile was rediscovered in 2000 by an area reconnaissance team, local communities and the Cambodian government have made great strides to protect the remaining wild crocodiles and their habitat by establishing sanctuaries.
A conservation breeding program has been launched to release thoroughbreds to the mountains to help reptiles that have a slow breeding period.
Today, the rare reptile can be found in small and fragmented populations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Chinese magnolias
You may see many variations of magnolia tree species around the world, but these beautiful flowers still have a long way to go.
Many magnolia species were direct and are still endangered in nature. In 2005, the FFI’s Global Trees Campaign rescued the endangered Chinese magnolia that had nearly reached the point of no return in a remote rainforest in southern Yunnan, China.
Since then the population has increased thanks to the reintroduction of small trees grown in the nursery.
