Australia confirmed that 13 more endemic animals went extinct, including 12 mammals and one reptile. The Christmas Island forest skink is the first reptile lost since European colonization.
Additionally, the extinction of the 12 mammals confirms that Australia is the world's capital for mammal extinction. As of now, there are about 34 recorded extinct mammals in total.
But none of the extinction of these species is a surprise. WION reported that most of the extinct animals, except for one, have already been recorded in the past century and decades especially during the 1850s and 1950s.
The list of extinct animals in Australia also included two animals that died out in the past decade. These animals were once endemic in Christmas Island located in the Indian Ocean.
Christmas Island Forest Skink (Emoia nativitatis)
Australia: The Capital of Mammal Extinction
The news outlet reported that the Australian government's confirmation of the extinction of new 13 species had made the country capital of mammal extinction, with at least 34 species that perished in the past decades.
For example, the Christmas Island pipistrelle was last seen in 2009 in Australia which was later on confirmed extinct. The Revelator reported that despite extensive searches for this tiny microbat, scientists failed to locate any remaining survivors. Scientists were not also able to identify the real cause of its extinction.
The new list of extinct mammals announced by the Australian government has added to the long list of extinctions from the country. This means that over 10% of 320 known mammals inhabiting Australia in 1788 have now died out.
Suzanne Milthorpe of the Wilderness Society noted that there was no other country in the world, whether rich or poor, that has any record of animal extinction like Australia.
The extinction of the bat was followed by the first reptile in Australia known to be extinct in 2014, known as the Christmas Island forest skink. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has already previously recorded the extinction of the two species.
Some of the mammals listed that now went extinct include the broad-cheeked hopping mouse, the blue-grey mouse, the Capricorn rabbit-rat, desert bettong, the Liverpool Plains striped bandicoot, the marl, the Nullarbor barred bandicoot, the Nullarbor dwarf bettong, and the Percey Island flying fox.
ALSO READ: Herbivores, Not Predators, Are at Most Risk of Extinction
Haiti Trails Australia in Mammal Extinction
Milthorpe said that Haiti comes second to IUCN's record of most number of mammal extinction with a total of nine.
According to a press release of Oregon State University in 2018, two researchers associated with the university found that deforestation in Haiti has claimed over 99% of the country's forest areas, wherein 42 out of their 50 largest mountains have already lost their primary forest.
But what's more troubling is that along with the disappearance of the trees are also species dying out. The press release also reported that the survey revealed that Haiti could lose all of its remaining primary forest cover in the next two decades because of deforestation. This highlights the global threat to biodiversity due to human activities.
RELATED ARTICLE: New Study Offers Insight on Human Impact on Mammal Extinction
Check out more news and information on the Extinction in Science Times.
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