Caspian seals, Tasmanian devils, fishing cats, Indri lemurs, black-footed ferrets, Iberian lynxes: endangered mammals all. Mammals like us. Creatures at the top of the food chain. Think of the food chain as a pyramid, with predators at the top; then imagine the widening base of that pyramid that includes smaller creatures, vegetation, water, living space and other natural systems that support the web of life. For something at the top to be endangered, supporting tiers in the base must be malfunctioning, destroyed, or damaged.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), almost 1/4 of the world's mammals are endangered. One-fourth.

The IUCN released The Review of the 2008 Red List of Threatened Species, which catalogs all species, as well as one specifically for mammals at IUCN Red List reveals world’s mammals in crisis. The study on mammals states,

The new study to assess the world’s mammals shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction.

According to Christine Dell’Amore reporting on comments by Simon Stuart, chair of IUCN's Biodiversity Assessments Sub-committee, at National Geographic News,

But most species are plummeting because of habitat destruction, "the most significant threat to [land] species," Stuart said.

Loss of habitat. Think with me here, and be honest. What is the source of that loss of habitat? Did you think of human behavior? Give yourself a gold star if you did. Human behavior has been connected to another environmental problem called global warming. Connect the dots—human beings are mammals, creatures that live on the earth and depend on its global systems for survival. Our behavior is self-destructive.

As Citizen Sugar said in Terrible Odds? One of Every Four Mammals Faces Extinction,

Yikes. Um, aren't humans mammals too. . . ?

Can we behave in a way that lessens our impact on the environment for ourselves and habitat of all the creatures on the planet?

Yes, we can. The IUCN report isn't all gloom and doom. At IUCN Red List reveals world’s mammals in crisis, the report states,

But it is not all bad news. The assessment of the world’s mammals shows that species can recover with concerted conservation efforts. The Black-footed Ferret (Mustela nigripes) moved from Extinct in the Wild to Endangered after a successful reintroduction by the US Fish and Wildlife Service into eight western states and Mexico from 1991-2008. Similarly, the Wild Horse (Equus ferus) moved from Extinct in the Wild in 1996 to Critically Endangered this year after successful reintroductions started in Mongolia in the early 1990s.

Elizabeth Pennisi in the ScienceNOW Daily News explains how the IUCN came to the conclusions on their Red List in More Misfortune for Mammals.

"Bleak" is how conservationists are characterizing the future of the world's mammals. Today at its quadrennial congress in Barcelona, Spain, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its long-awaited database detailing the status of all mammals known to humankind since the year 1500. The analysis estimates that at least one quarter of the 5487 species are threatened with extinction and that one half are declining in number.

The database, part of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, updates and expands a survey from 1996 and includes both land and marine species. Taking 5 years to compile, the effort involved more than 1700 researchers from 130 countries. They combed their literature and pooled their unpublished knowledge of ecology, taxonomy, distribution, population trends, threats, and conservation efforts. The species were then classified according to their extinction risk.

At Livin' Veg, Alyson wrote Scientists: 1 in 4 Mammals Faces Extinction. She said,

The problem we face isn’t getting the vegans on board to change our behavior. The problem is to make the environment and wildlife a global priority. How does one make that happen? Well, the truth is that no one country or culture can do it. The non profits do their best. But really, it’s the governments that have to take action - that have to protect our rain forests, our oceans, our forests and plains. Vegans need to be environmentalists. Scratch that. Everyone needs to be an environmentalist. That is, if we don’t want to systematically wipe out everyone who isn’t human.

In another post at Livin' Veg, Take Action for Wildlife, Alyson lists a group of organizations that you can join or support that are working on the front lines to protect wildlife. She mentions other steps you can personally take, for example,

Like saying no to plastic bags, veganizing your diet, walking or taking public transportation, composting, buying local foods, and making your home energy efficient.

And speaking of homes, maybe it's time to rethink that McMansion you've been wanting. Urban sprawl translates directly into loss of habitat. There's a direct link between urban sprawl and loss of eco-diversity. Consider urban density instead. A green urban ideal might not be the single-family home, but instead might be multi-family housing complexes, better mass transit, and higher-efficiency systems for water and power. Endangered animals have no way to preserve living space. The humans who are filling it with construction do.

Back in 2000, the UN issued its Millennium Development Goals. These included environmental sustainability. Worldchanging.com reports in Commentary: Reconciling Poverty, Sustainability, and the Financial Crisis on a speech given by Worldwatch Institute President Christopher Flavin at the United Nations on September 25, 2008. Among the things Flavin said was,

The human economy is wholly contained within the global biosphere-and if the biosphere's productivity is undermined, the human economy will suffer.

Is the economy on your mind lately? If the economy does, in fact, reflect the global biosphere, then humans aren't the only mammals that need to see some improvements made. You and I, the humans at the top of the food pyramid, are the ones to create change—will it be good or bad?

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Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
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