Australia's reptiles, including lizards together with snakes, are facing growing threats from invasive species together with climate change, with 7 pct on the verge of extinction, conservationists said Thursday.
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| The vast bulk of the threatened species are endemic to Commonwealth of Australia [Credit: Sajjad Hussain/AFP] |
"This Red List update highlights the vulnerability of Australia's lizards together with snakes to invasive alien species," Philip Bowles, who coordinates IUCN's operate on snakes together with lizards, said inward a statement.
H5N1 total 975 Australian reptile species are currently on the Red List, IUCN said, adding that the vast bulk of the threatened species were endemic to Australia.
The isle continent is habitation to an unusually various reptile population, which evolved inward isolation together with represents almost 10 pct of the global reptile fauna.
Invasive species are the main threat to most of the threatened reptiles inward Australia, IUCN said, pointing to a recent written report showing that invasive feral cats lonely kill most 600 1 one one thousand thousand reptiles each yr inward the country.
The Grassland Earless Dragon, a modest lizard with a stout trunk together with brusk limbs widely hunted past times feral cats, has been pushed from the list's "vulnerable" to the "endangered" category.
Another invasive species threatening Australia's reptiles, IUCN said, is the toxic cane toad—the world's largest toad, which is native to Central together with South America.
The toad, which has poisonous substance glands that tin kill its predators, was introduced to Commonwealth of Australia inward 1935 with the aim of reining inward beetles ravaging the country's saccharide cane fields.
It was largely unsuccessful at that get but has proven catastrophic for reptiles similar the semi-aquatic Mitchell's H2O monitor lizard, which has right away been categorised equally "critically endangered".
"Dining on the toxic cane toad has resulted inward population declines of upwards to 97 pct inward some areas," IUCN said.
It noted that Australia's reptiles were specially vulnerable to the toads since no native species on the continent gain the same toxins.
Climate alter is besides taking its toll, IUCN said, pointing to the Bartle frere cool-skink, a long-tailed cold-adapted lizard constitute solely on the summit of Queensland's tallest mountain, Mount Bartle Frere.
It is currently listed equally "vulnerable", but IUCN warned that an average temperature increase of 1 marker Celsius would "likely number inward a loss of l pct of the cool-skink's population inside thirty years."
Onslaught of threats
Australia's reptiles are non the solely species at risk: The Red List right away includes 93,577 brute together with flora species from only about the world, including 26,197 threatened with extinction.
"Today's IUCN Red List update reveals the onset of threats that our planet's biodiversity is facing," IUCN main Inger Andersen warned inward a statement.
The updated listing showed that a total 74 pct of assessed insect species on Portugal's Azores islands are threatened with extinction, due largely to habitat degradation, invasive flora species together with a drying climate.
On the Indian Ocean islands of Republic of Mauritius together with Reunion, a large bat species called the Mauritian Flying Fox has right away been listed equally "endangered", subsequently the population shrank past times l pct betwixt 2015 together with 2016 with a authorities programme to cull bats.
And 3 species of Japanese earthworms are right away facing extinction, IUCN said, pointing to radioactive fallout from World War II together with the 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor explosion.
Author: Nina Larson | Source: AFP [July 05, 2018]
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