Mammal species on the EDGE
15/09/2006 00:00:00 Saving the world’s weirdest creaturesEDGE update
January 2007. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has launched a new programme aimed at protecting some of the world’s most bizarre and unusual animals, many of which are being completely ignored by more populist current international conservation efforts. The programme focuses on the world’s most unusual and threatened animals and is called ‘EDGE’, standing for Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered.
ZSL is starting work to protect ten of the most unusual and threatened species this year, including:
- 1) Yangtze River dolphin (possibly too late, reports from China say that the Baiji may already be extinct)
- 2) Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (egg-laying mammal)
- 3) Hispaniolan solenodon (venomous shrew-like creature)
- 4) Bactrian camel
- 5) Pygmy hippopotamus
- 6) Slender Loris (a shy, nocturnal primate with gigantic eyes)
- 7) Hirola antelope (antelope known as ‘four-eye antelope’, as their preorbital glands look like a second set of eyes)
- 8) Golden-rumped elephant shrew (the size of a small rabbit; can run at speeds of up to 25km/h)
- 9) Bumblebee bat (possibly the world’s smallest mammal)
- 10) Long-eared jerboa (mouse-like animals with the largest ear to body ratio of any mammal)
Dr Jonathan Baillie, the ZSL scientist leading the project, commented, ‘This is the first global-scale programme specifically developed to focus on these one-of-a-kind and highly threatened animals. We will be working to protect some of the world’s most extraordinary species, including giant venomous shrew-like creatures, matchbox sized bats and egg-laying mammals, all of which are teetering on the EDGE of extinction’.
EDGE animals are those with few close relatives and are highly distinct genetically. These animals are also extremely endangered and desperately in need of immediate action to save them from becoming extinct. By mathematically combining a measure of each species’ unique evolutionary history with its threat of extinction, the scientists are able to give species an EDGE value, which identifies species that are highly unique and at significant risk of extinction.
The EDGE team has assessed how much conservation attention each of the top 100 EDGE species is currently receiving and found that over two thirds are receiving little or no conservation attention.
Dr Baillie continued, ‘It is a tragedy that many EDGE species are being ignored and are slipping silently towards extinction. It is essential that we now focus our energies on highlighting and protecting these remarkable species before it is too late.’
The EDGE team plans to analyse other classes of organisms such as reptiles, birds and amphibians in the near future and will have assessed all known amphibians by July 2007.
London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo, ZSL’s living collections, will also start to use the EDGE system, incorporating it into their assessments of which species to house in their collections. The following top 100 EDGE species are currently held in ZSL’s Living Collections at London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo:
- 1) Bactrian camel
- 2) Asian elephant
- 3) Onager
- 4) Aye-aye
- 5) Red panda
- 6) Pygmy hippopotamus
- 7) Slender loris
- 8) Indian rhinoceros
- 9) Grevy’s zebra
- 10) Mountain zebra
- 11) Malagasy giant jumping rat
Further information about the EDGE programme can be found at http://www.zsl.org/edge The latest survey from China suggests that the Baiji is already 'functionally extinct'. Read the full story.
