Mammals in peril

At this week’s World Conservation Congress, researchers say mammals need a lot of attention. This researcher chairs the commission that oversaw the world census on mammals, which took over 5 years. she and other conservationists are leading the fight against overhunting and habitat destruction, the two human causes of stress on mammal populations. Habitat destruction is occurring most heavily in the developing world due to logging and grazing, says this researcher. Other real threats come from southeast Asia, and the orangutans are heavily threatened there. the researcher says in southeast Asia, 80% of primates are in danger of extinction. The researchers also praised work by zoos like this one which successfully reintroduced some mammals into the field. Still when it comes to mammals, all signs indicate that the scales are tipping against them, and for those that live in the ocean, the signs are even worse. More than a third of all marine mammals are threatened by extinction, and surveying water mammals remains more difficult than surveying land mammals.