Picture gallery

The gradual extinction of endangered species is continuing. That is the pessimistic conclusion of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (UCN), author of the yearly "Red List of Threatened Species." Every four years, the group also produces an analysis of the threat facing the world's rarest species. In April 2009, co-author of the study Jean-Christophe Vie delivered his hard-hitting verdict: The goal of the 2002 UN Convention to halt the extinction of endangered species by 2010 has not been reached.

"The governments of the world should employ the same ambition in protecting nature that they use to protect the economic and financial sectors," demanded Vie. But even climate change, which concerns the survival of our own species, occupies a place of secondary importance behind the current financial and economic crisis.

Onagers, also known as Asian wild asses, are most numerous on the plains of southern Mongolia. Illegal poaching has halved their numbers in the previous 16 years and they are now classified under the IUCN's Red List as a "highly endangered" species.

"Highly endangered" is only the intermediate classification on the Red List. The criteria for deciding to which degree a species is endangered are based on a number of factors. Are numbers shrinking, growing, or remaining stable? Is the natural habitat being destroyed? To what extent?

In the majority of cases, humans are primarily responsible for dwindling numbers. Through the destruction of the rainforests, agricultural practices, pollution, and climate change, we are transforming the world around us.

While the relationship between the hunter and the hunted is carefully regulated in nature, humans have proven incapable of preserving this fine balance and often drive their prey to near or total extinction. But even those animals above us in the food chain are not safe. There are estimated to be only 270 remaining Sumatran tigers in the wild and these surviving animals are considered to be "threatened by extinction."

Fully grown elephants have no natural enemy to fear - that is, except for humans. They are not interested in consuming the animal's meat, but rather in a small part of its massive body: the tusks. Ivory has always been a highly prized and valuable material and, when ground, even has certain medical applications. Strict new laws have helped elephant populations to steadily increase in recent years but the species remains "threatened by extinction."

The situation facing the Iberian lynx is far from as promising, being listed on the Red List as "critically endangered." A mere 143 adults are presumed to exist, living unfavorably in two completely separate ecospheres. With so few animals left in the wild, finding a suitable mate and successfully raising young becomes a most difficult task. With a bit of bad luck, the situation can turn critical for the entire species.

Here, humans are also responsible for the dramatic drop in numbers, albeit in an indirect way. The accidental introduction of Myxomatosis to Europe in the 1950s decimated rabbit populations across the continent. With rabbits comprising 90 percent of its diet, mass starvation of the Iberian lynx soon followed. But while rabbits gradually developed immunity to the disease and recovered their numbers, the lynx remains in threat of extinction to this day.

The upper reaches of the IUCN scale include those species deemed to be "extinct" and or at least "extinct in the wild." The later applies to the Chinese river dolphin. Two attempts in 2006 and 2007 to locate the species' last remaining survivors were unsuccessful. The animas' limited habitat makes them more susceptible to pollution und hunting.

Even ocean-going dolphins are at risk, these often being inadvertently hauled from the water together with the fish intended for human consumption. The hunting of the world's largest mammals, whales, is stubbornly being continued, although the trade is no longer profitable.

The reason behind the the worldwide decimation of the amphibian population in the last decades years is not altogether clear. A fungal infection likely played a part, but its effect was possibly intensified by changes in the environment.

Many amphibians are at risk because their habitat is particularly small and they themselves are highly specialized creatures. Madagascan frogs, like the one pictured here, live in just a small area of the island. They are an "endangered" species.

A glance into the history of the earth will demonstrate the robustness of insects, but even here mankind has made his presence known. Changes in the climate brought about by humans' actions and the widespread use of pesticides have made life harder for certain species. Although the apollo butterfly is a protected species, it is still "endangered" in certain areas, and "critically endangered" in others.

When the colorful butterflies disappear, then it certainly won't go unnoticed. There are species of butterfly, however, which could disappear from our environment and no one would know. The IUCN is only able to investigate the threat posed to the 45,000 species which have been adequately studied. This represents only 2.7 percent of the 1.8 million species of butterfly worldwide.

Many experts are highly concerned about the future of our coral. If rising global temperatures alter the pH-value of the oceans, the chalk skeletons of these creatures will dissolve in the acidic water. But not only coral would be affected: Ocean snails and mussels would also suffer the same fate.

Seahorses have no skeletons but share a common problem with tigers and elephants: They are said to aid fertility in humans. But also the destruction of their natural habitat is contributing to ever-falling numbers. Several species of seahorse are found on the Red List, though adequate knowledge of many of them is lacking.

By the turn of the 20th century, the white-tailed eagle was nearly eradicated from the whole of western and northern Europe. The first efforts at protection and conservation saw an improvement but numbers began to dwindle once more in the 1950s and 60s. The use of the insecticide DDT was responsible for the reverse trend, which was transferred from the end of the food chain to the white-tailed eagle via microbes and fish. This poison caused the birds' eggs to become thin and brittle. With the ban of DDT at the start of 1970s, numbers began once more to recover. Today, the IUCN regards the species as being "not endangered."

This could be a glowing example of a successful turnaround would it not be for the fact that human beings were also at risk from DDT. As long as "only" animal and plant life are in danger, the prospect of be able to protect the last remaining survivors of these species is doubtful. In the current economic climate, it looks as though banks and struggling corporations will continue to receive the greatest attention.

Author: Michael Gessat / Andrew Shale

Editor: Kate Bowen