Rewilding the World

That’s how Rick Hudson, president of Turtle Survival Alliance, described the plight of the Radiated Tortoise, today’s Endangered All-Star, in an article at Mongabay. Critically endangered, the species may become extinct within 20 years. The Radiated Tortoise once strode Madagascar in the millions but has been poached out of parks and its native  Read More 

That’s what ʻIlio-holo-i-ka-uaua” means, the native Hawaiian name for the Monk Seal, today’s Endangered All-Star. Considered critically endangered and featured on the Endangered Species List since 1976, the Hawaiian Monk Seal has lost an average of three percent of its population every year from 1985-1999. The current population is estimated to be only 1,200  Read More 

Scorpions are among the most understudied and poorly-understood organisms on earth, according to the American Museum of Natural History’s Scorpion Systematics Research Group, which fears that many unique species may disappear before they’ve even been identified. So if you’re a fan of these much-maligned arachnids, here’s your opportunity to contribute  Read More 

iWild celebrates its 100th Endangered Species All-Star—the Asian Elephant— with news of the Elephant Parade, a truly Big event scheduled to break out all over central London in just 4 weeks. On May 3, 2010, baby Asian elephants will be disporting themselves everywhere, decorated by artists, celebrities, and fashionisti, from Tommy Hilfiger and Isaac Mizrahi to  Read More 

Another incredible tale of the struggle against extinction comes to us by way of the Begawan Foundation: In recent years, today’s Endangered All-Star, the Bali Starling (also known as Bali Myna or Rothschild’s Mynah) came fearfully close to joining the other endemic vertebrate lost on the Indonesian island, the Bali tiger, extinct  Read More 

and…we missed it.” That’s Mark Jones’ view of CITES. The fundraising director of Care for the Wild International, Jones gave voice in BBC’s Green Room to what most conservationists around the world are thinking about CITES after Doha, the 2010 meeting that failed to offer “real meaningful protection” to any marine or  Read More 

So far, the Chinese government has neither apologized nor acknowledged the grounding of the Shen Neng 1, a freighter carrying coal that went aground in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, violating regulations protecting the marine reserve. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expressed the dismay felt by many Australians, telling the press yesterday, “From where I sit,  Read More 

There are hardly any photographs of living specimens of this tiny cetacean, the smallest in the world: Almost all are of dead individuals, caught in fishing gear by accident. Very little is known about today’s Endangered All-Star. The vaquita lives in turbid, shallow water, surfacing briefly and swimming languidly. Only 150 are estimated to  Read More 

…and if it fails, we will fail too. So when a Red List like this raises the alarm, the implications for our ecosystems and for our own future are clear. This is a worrying decline.” So said EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik on last month’s release of the European Red List, highlighting  Read More 

Move over Easter Bunny: In Australia—where rabbits have worn out their welcome—the Easter Bilby has taken the place of favor. Today’s Endangered All-Star was once common throughout the continent but disappeared rapidly, displaced by said rabbit, hunted by feral cats, and squeezed into small parcels of land by agriculture and grazing.  Read More