More than 90% of lemurs are facing extinction, according to the latest global assessment of the world’s most threatened species.
The update to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) “red list”, which contains more than 73,000 species around the world, also warned that temperate slipper orchids and the Japanese eel have joined the list of the 22,103 species now classed by experts as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction.
The red list also flagged up the threat to slipper orchids, finding that 79% of the popular ornamental plants found in North America, Europe and temperate parts of Asia are threatened with extinction.
The plants, which have slipper-shaped flowers that trap insects to ensure pollination, have suffered from habitat loss and over-collection of the wild species for trade, even though international trade is regulated.
Other species of concern are the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica), a traditional delicacy and the country’s most expensive food fish, which has been listed as endangered due to loss of habitat, overfishing, barriers to migration, pollution and changes to oceanic currents. The freckled cypripedium (Cypripedium lentiginosum) plant, which has fewer than 100 individuals left in south-eastern Yunnan in China and the Ha Giang province of Vietnam, was also listed as endangered due to over-collection and deforestation.
The banana orchid (Myrmecophila thomsoniana), the national flower of the Cayman Islands, had been assessed for the first time and listed as endangered due to loss of habitat for housing and tourism developments.
A reassessment of the Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus) – the mascot for this year’s football World Cup – found it remained vulnerable to extinction and has declined by more than one-third in the past 10-15 years due to loss of half its shrubland habitat.
Some 73,686 species were assessed by conservationists for the red list, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year. The latest update listed 4,554 species as critically endangered, 6,807 species as endangered and 10,742 species as vulnerable to extinction.