There was only one species that showed improvement this year scientists said today; the Mauritius echo parakeet moved from critically endangered to the endangered list.
This news comes from the World Conservation Union which released its annual Red List today.
Over 200 new species made the frightening list which rates endangered and critically endangered species all over the world.
The makers of the list stressed the importance of recognizing just how small of a representation it is. These numbers are only taken from the world's 41,415 traceable species. There are countless others that are yet undiscovered and as such, untrackable. The widely accepted figure is 15 million different species, total, on Earth.
“The estimate is low; we know it’s low. We’ve only really looked at the tip of the iceberg in terms of species that are out there that are known to science.”
Low though it is, the list names over 16,300 species threatened with extinction.
"One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 percent of the world’s assessed plants on the 2007 Red List are in jeopardy, the IUCN added."
Here are a few of those who need help: lowland gorillas threatened by Ebola and poaching (they may only have 12 years left), the Yangtze River dolphin, corals from the Galapagos Islands, the Hawaiian crow (now extinct in the wild), the Goliath frog (the largest frog in the world), the Giant Hispaniolan galliwasp... The list goes on.
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