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IUCN Red List changes and common zoo animals

Discussion in 'Wildlife & Nature Conservation' started by Jurek7, 10 Dec 2020.

  1. RatioTile

    RatioTile Well-Known Member

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    Similarly, common carp is Vulnerable.
     
  2. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    Justification
    Although this species is widely distributed and is known to be tolerant to habitat changes, the excessive hunting and persecution due to negative interactions with humans throughout its range is a cause for concern. Much like the study on Bonnet Macaques (a similar species) indicated steep declines in populations due to persecution and commensal populations becoming sinks over the last few decades, Macaca fascicularis is also suspected to have undergone declines of over 30% throughout its range in the last 36-39 years (three generations). Ignorance and lack of conservation action on an apparent "abundantly" seen species will continue to impact its status in the future, therefore we expect a reduction of at least 30% to also occur over the next 36-39 years.
     
  3. RatioTile

    RatioTile Well-Known Member

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    In contrast to crab-eating and bonnet macaques, Rhesus macaques are still considered Least Concern as of this year.
     
  4. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

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  5. Fallax

    Fallax Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Terrible news... I was under the impression bush elephant populations were increasing.

    Though at the very least its good news the IUCN FINALLY agreed that the African elephant is 2 different species.
     
  6. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    I thought so recently too but when I’d visit their website to see current trends for increasing and decreasing populations, it did show a decrease :/ and I’m glad they distinguish the two subspecies ergo making the necessary protections needed for their natural ranges.
     
  7. Fallax

    Fallax Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Such a big shame, though with such a charismatic species we can hope this reaches mainstream news.
     
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  8. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    It may reach mainstream news but as always it will sadly have to compete with anthropocentric stories like the current pandemic and politics in general.
     
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  9. Fallax

    Fallax Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Just seen there is in fact an article on BBC News - World but you need to do a bit of scrolling to get there.
     
  10. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Yes, but as I've said it could reach major news outlets like BBC, El Pais, Al Jazeera, New York Times, France 24 etc but it doesn't necessarily mean that it will galvanise any attention in the chaotic media and fear saturated times we are living in.

    But I would hope this news reaches the right people and I suppose that is what counts / matters.
     
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  11. Mbwamwitu

    Mbwamwitu Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I might be wrong here but I think the stable and increasing populations are in Southern and East Africa, while there are some more threatened populations in the Sahel, Mali, southeastern DRC, and a few other parts where conservation is less established.

    Also: the previous assessment of the species overall as Vulnerable seems to have been extremely outdated, with 2008 (!) as the last date. Wasn't there a poaching surge even in the well protected East and Southern African countries in the late 2000s and early 2010s, after a relatively good few years in the early 2000s?
     
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  12. DesertRhino150

    DesertRhino150 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The other common zoo species that has seen a decrease in status is the African spurred tortoise Centrochelys sulcata, which has moved from Vulnerable to Endangered. The last time it had been assessed was in 1996, so it was well due an update.

    The bluespotted ribbontail ray Taeniura lymma has moved from Near Threatened to Least Concern - this appears to be due to genuine population increases but they seem to have come about from mesopredator release as the result of overfishing of sharks.

    Some species of east Atlantic sharks and rays have also seen changes in status - the starry smoothhound Mustelus asterias has moved from Least Concern to Near Threatened, while both the common guitarfish Rhinobatos rhinobatos and common eagle ray Myliobatis aquila have moved up to Critically Endangered.

    Another species that has moved down in threat level is the apollo butterfly Parnassius apollo, which has moved from Vulnerable down to Least Concern. This is not because of population increases but because the declines are not severe enough across its entire global range.
     
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  13. CheeseChameleon1945

    CheeseChameleon1945 Well-Known Member

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    Fortunately there are a fair number of those in Captivity.
     
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  14. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    It’s really sad to see the African Spurred Tortoise now downgraded, I had personal hands on experience caring for one and it was a beautiful creature while also acting like a child :oops: I thought the common eagle ray was Data Deficient but now this news is truly crushing...
     
  15. TheChukaulorian

    TheChukaulorian Well-Known Member

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    Maybe this happened a while ago and I missed out, but since when are Andean condors classified as Vulnerable rather than Near threatened? :(
     
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  16. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    I am just as surprised as you are and it would’ve been within the past year. I just went to the IUCN Red List and it is indeed confirmed as of August 2020 according to their last assessment :/
     
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  17. DesertRhino150

    DesertRhino150 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Another update from the IUCN dropped today, which seems to be focusing primarily on reptiles. Some changes of note:

    - Several monitor lizards have been assessed for the first time - the yellow monitor is Endangered and the Bengal monitor is Near Threatened; the Komodo dragon has also been uplisted to Endangered.
    - The Borneo earless monitor has also been assessed for the first time and is listed as Endangered.
    - Among the pythons, both the Indian rock and royal pythons have been assessed for the first time; both are Near Threatened.
    - The Cuban boa has been moved down from Near Threatened to Least Concern.
    - Several species of African cobra have been assessed with one, the Sao Tome cobra, listed as Endangered.
    - The Home's hingeback tortoise has been uplisted from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.
    - The giant Asian pond turtle has also moved from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.

    - The sand tiger shark is now listed as Critically Endangered, with the sandbar shark also moving from Vulnerable to Endangered.
    - The nursehound, a familiar European catshark, has moved from Near Threatened to Vulnerable.

    - The bony fish assessments contain lots of both South American tetras and flatfishes; perhaps the most notable news here is that the Pacific and Atlantic bluefin tuna are now both listed as Least Concern (previously, they were considered Vulnerable and Endangered respectively).
    - The bandit cory Corydoras metae has been assessed for the first time and is listed as Vulnerable.

    - The giraffe-necked weevil of Madagascar has been assessed for the first time and is considered Near Threatened.
     
    Last edited: 4 Sep 2021
  18. Great Argus

    Great Argus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Good, many commonly traded and known threatened reptiles still lacked assessment and I assume many still do.
    The tuna surprise me, given the reports of overfishing and the struggle to find large ones.
     
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  19. WalkingAgnatha

    WalkingAgnatha Well-Known Member

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    Could you send the full pdf? As currently the only pdf that downloads, is the update from March.
     
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  20. Haliaeetus

    Haliaeetus Well-Known Member

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    Several Tuna species have benefitted from fishing regulations in the last decade, at least in the Atlantic and Mediterranean (I don't know the situation in the other oceans).