The state of the world's mammals

	African Elephant Click here for more information.

The survival of one in four of the world’s land mammal species and one in three marine mammal species is threatened, according to a major new survey, researchers report in the Oct. 2 issue of Science. On land, the primary dangers are habitat loss and hunting and gathering, while in the oceans, pollution and the indirect effects of fishing do the most damage. Jan Schipper and an international research team have compiled data for the world’s 5,487 mammalian species and now present an assessment of these animals’ conservation status and distribution around the world. The last assessment of this sort was completed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in 1996, and the authors say our understanding of mammals is still surprisingly patchy. The new assessment, which includes marine mammals and many other species for the first time, is a collaborative effort, by over 1,700 experts in 130 countries, to collect detailed information on species’ taxonomy, distribution, habitats, ecology, threats, human use, population trends and conservation measures. The results show that marine mammals and the land mammals of South and Southeast Asia are facing a particularly bleak future. For example, 79 percent of primate species in this region are threatened with extinction.

ARTICLE #16: "The Status of the World's Land and Marine Mammals: Diversity, Threat, and Knowledge," by Jan Schipper of IUCN Species Programme in Gland, Switzerland and colleagues. A full list of authors is available in the manuscript.