'Peter' rabbit endangered, RI tops list for most species on brink of extinction

'Peter' rabbit endangered, RI tops list for most species on brink of extinction

Erica Bulman, Associated Press, Geneva

Imagine having to tell your children that it's the end of the line for Peter Rabbit, and that he and the rest of the Cottontail family had nowhere to live and were decimated by trappers and wild animals.

That's what conservationists are having to do in South Africa, where the riverine rabbit is on the brink of extinction.

With fewer than 250 breeding pairs left, the riverine rabbit could soon join the long-departed wooly mammoth among the ranks of vanished creatures.

The bunnies aren't the only ones facing extinction.

Indonesia, India, Brazil, China and Peru are among the countries with the highest number of known threatened birds and mammals while plants are declining rapidly in Ecuador, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil and Sri Lanka, the report said.

According to the 2003 Red List of Threatened Species released on Tuesday by the World Conservation Union, the variegated spider monkey, the tiny Galapagos snail and the Mekong giant catfish are also fighting for their future.

The turtle-like Seychelles fresh water terrapin lost its battle this year and is gone forever.

Two Hawaiian plants - the flowering Clermonteia peleane and the palm-like Cyanea superba - both critically endangered last year, are now extinct in the wild. Eight other species were added to the extinct in the wild list, including an earthworm from Tasmania, Australia, last seen in 1971.

There are 12,259 known plants and animal species threatened with extinction - falling into the Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable categories, said the union, known as IUCN.

Last year the number was at 11,167, but the Gland, Switzerland-based organization said it is difficult to compare the numbers because new species are being discovered and others change categories.

The only burrowing rabbit in Africa, the riverine rabbit is recognized by its distinctive long ears, a black-brown stripe on its lower jaw, and a dark fluffy tail visible when it hops away.

Already considered one of the rarest animals in the world, the riverine rabbit produces only one offspring a year and about four in a lifetime.

With the loss of habitation and prey to trappers, feral cats and dogs, it is expected to become even rarer, the report said.

Like the furry-footed leaf-eaters, Southeast Asia's Mekong giant catfish, one of the world's largest freshwater fish, was also uplisted to critically endangered.

Up to 3 meters (10 feet) long and 300 kilograms (660 pounds), this fat catfish suffers from overfishing, habitat loss and obstruction of migration routes through dam construction. Its numbers have declined by over 80 percent the last 13 years.

Two Latin American primate species have also become critically endangered because of habitat loss.

On the island paradises of Hawaii, the Seychelles and Galapagos, invasive species are squeezing out thousands of native varieties.

Many of the 49 species of Galapagos Island snails are critically endangered, possibly already extinct. Once collected by Charles Darwin, the tiny snails had survived volcanoes and extreme drought over the millennia.

But invasive species such as goats, pigs and fire ants, are threatening them, experts said.

So is human invasion, which is also endangering some 85 plant species on the islands due to housing development, tourism and agriculture.

"The Red List tells us human activities are leading to a swathe of extinctions that could make these islands ecologically and esthetically barren," said Achim Steiner, director general of the World Conservation Union.

The short-beaked dolphin of the Mediterranean was added to the endangered list after it declined more than 50 percent over the last 30 to 40 years because the fish it eats have been depleted by pollution and overfishing.

Surprisingly, 11 species previously considered extinct were rediscovered this last year - including the Fabulous Green Sphinx Moth found in Hawaii. The moth was likely thought extinct because it is so difficult to collect.

The Red List, produced by a network of some 7,000 experts working in almost every country in the world, found that 762 species have disappeared over the last 500 years, with a further 58 known only in artificial settings, such as zoos.

The group has examined some 18,000 species and subspecies around the globe. But scientists say much more must be done. Earth is home to an estimated 14 million species - and only 1.75 million have been documented.

Many may become extinct before they are even identified. Conservationists think the current extinction rate is 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than it should be under natural conditions. That means that in the first decades of the 21st century, many creatures may disappear.

The primary reason: humans. Everything from expanding cities to deforestation, agriculture and fishing pose a significant threat to the planet's biodiversity, IUCN says.

"Human activities may be the main threat to the world's species but humans can also help them recover," said Steiner.