One in five of the world’s mammals, birds and fish are now endangered, indicating a possible sixth round of mass extinction in the earth’s history, scientists say. The researchers found that the a growing number of vertebrates (animals with backbones) are being added to the endangered species list, with humans largely to blame. One of the world’s leading ecologists, Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University, warned: “This is just a small window on the global losses taking place.” The tiger, for example, is facing a threat from poachers and the destruction of its habitat. Scientists fear that a fifth of the world’s animals could soon be extinct. Many scientists believe the world is going through a “sixth mass extinction”.
The last of the five already seen in the earth’s four-billion-year history wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, reports the Daily Mail. The report comes as governments are taking part in UN talks in Nagoya, Japan, to tackle the global threat to wildlife, according to the journal Science. It looked at the status of more than 25,000 species on the Red List, a database of threatened animals created by the respected International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Around 20 per cent of the world’s vertebrates are threatened, including 25 per cent of mammals, 13 per cent of birds, 22 per cent of reptiles and 41 per cent of amphibians.