Endangered Mammals - Levels Of Endangerment

In 2004 there were a total of 342 threatened and endangered mammals listed under the Endangered Species Act. Of the endangered mammals, 65 are found in the U.S. and 251 are foreign. Of the threatened species, 9 are found in the U.S. and 17 are foreign. U.S. threatened and endangered mammals are shown in Table 7.1. Some mammalian groups that are particularly well-represented on the U.S. list include bats (9 species), bears (3 species), kangaroo rats (6 species), mice (10 species), and whales (7 species).

The 2003 Red List report of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) reports that 1,130 mammals, or 24 percent of species examined, are threatened globally. Nearly all are imperiled because of human activity. The last major IUCN assessment of the Red List, in 2000, revealed that a large majority—83 percent—are endangered due to loss of habitat. This was significantly worse than in the 1996 assessment, when 478 species were listed. The IUCN Director-General, Maritta con Bieberstein Koch-Weser, described the 2000 results as "a jolting surprise, even to those already familiar with today's increasing threats to biodiversity." The habitat types occupied by the largest numbers of threatened mammal species are lowland and tropical rainforests, both of which are being rapidly degraded. In 2003, the countries that harbored the largest number of threatened mammals included Indonesia (147), India (86), China (81), Brazil (74), Mexico (72), Australia (63), Papua New Guinea (58), Kenya (50), the Philippines (50), Madagascar (50), Malaysia (50), Peru (46), Russia (45), Vietnam (42), Tanzania (41), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (40), Myanmar (39), the United States

TABLE 7.1
Endangered or threatened mammals, February 2004

Status	Species name	Status	Species name
E	Bat, gray (Myotis grisescens)	E	Mouse, St. Andrew beach (Peromyscus polionotus peninsularis)
E	Bat, Hawaiian hoary (Lasiurus cinereus semotus)	E	Ocelot (Leopardus [=Felis] pardalis)
E	Bat, Indiana (Myotis sodalis)	XN, T	Otter, southern sea (Enhydra lutris nereis)
E	Bat, lesser long-nosed (Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae)	E	Panther, Florida (Puma [=Felis] concolor coryi)
E	Bat, little Mariana fruit (Pteropus tokudae)	T	Prairie dog, Utah (Cynomys parvidens)
E	Bat, Mariana fruit (=Mariana flying fox) (Pteropus mariannus mariannus)	E	Pronghorn, Sonoran (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis)
E	Bat, Mexican long-nosed (Leptonycteris nivalis)	E	Puma (cougar), eastern (Puma [=Felis] concolor couguar)
E	Bat, Ozark big-eared (Corynorhinus [=Plecotus] townsendii ingens)	T(S/A)	Puma (mountain lion) (Puma [=Felis] concolor [all subsp]. except coryi)
E	Bat, Virginia big-eared (Corynorhinus [=Plecotus] townsendii virginianus)	E	Rabbit, Lower Keys marsh (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri)
T(S/A)	Bear, American black (Ursus americanus)	E	Rabbit, pygmy (Brachylagus idahoensis )
XN, T	Bear, grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis)	E	Rabbit, riparian brush (Sylvilagus bachmani riparius)
T	Bear, Louisiana black (Ursus americanus luteolus)	E	Rice rat (Oryzomys palustris natator )
E	Caribou, woodland (Rangifer tarandus caribou)	E	Seal, Caribbean monk (Monachus tropicalis)
E	Deer, Columbian white-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus leucurus)	T	Seal, Guadalupe fur (Arctocephalus townsendi)
E	Deer, key (Odocoileus virginianus clavium)	E	Seal, Hawaiian monk (Monachus schauinslandi)
E, XN	Ferret, black-footed (Mustela nigripes)	E, T	Sea-lion, Steller (Eumetopias jubatus)
E	Fox, San Joaquin kit (Vulpes macrotis mutica)	E	Sheep, bighorn (Ovis canadensis)
E	Jaguar (Panthera onca)	E	Sheep, bighorn (Ovis canadensis californiana )
E	Jaguarundi, Gulf Coast (Herpailurus [=Felis] yagouaroundi cacomitli)	E	Shrew, Buena Vista Lake ornate (Sorex ornatus relictus)
E	Jaguarundi, Sinaloan (Herpailurus [=Felis] yagouaroundi tolteca)	E	Squirrel, Carolina northern flying (Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus)
E	Kangaroo rat, Fresno (Dipodomys nitratoides exilis)	E, XN	Squirrel, Delmarva Peninsula fox (Sciurus niger cinereus)
E	Kangaroo rat, giant (Dipodomys ingens)	E	Squirrel, Mount Graham red (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis)
E	Kangaroo rat, Morro Bay (Dipodomys heermanni morroensis)	T	Squirrel, northern Idaho ground (Spermophilus brunneus brunneus)
E	Kangaroo rat, San Bernardino Merriam's (Dipodomys merriami parvus)	E	Squirrel, Virginia northern flying (Glaucomys sabrinus fuscus)
E	Kangaroo rat, Stephens' (Dipodomys stephensi [including D. cascus)]	E	Vole, Amargosa (Microtus californicus scirpensis)
E	Kangaroo rat, Tipton (Dipodomys nitratoides nitratoides)	E	Vole, Florida salt marsh (Microtus pennsylvanicus dukecampbelli)
T	Lynx, Canada (Lynx canadensis)	E	Vole, Hualapai Mexican (Microtus mexicanus hualpaiensis)
E	Manatee, West Indian (Trichechus manatus)	E	Whale, blue (Balaenoptera musculus)
E	Mountain beaver, Point Arena (Aplodontia rufa nigra)	E	Whale, bowhead (Balaena mysticetus)
E	Mouse, Alabama beach (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates)	E	Whale, finback (Balaenoptera physalus)
E	Mouse, Anastasia Island beach (Peromyscus polionotus phasma)	E	Whale, humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae)
E	Mouse, Choctawhatchee beach (Peromyscus polionotus allophrys)	E	Whale, right (Balaena glacialis [including australis)
E	Mouse, Key Largo cotton (Peromyscus gossypinus allapaticola)	E	Whale, Sei (Balaenoptera borealis)
E	Mouse, Pacific pocket (Perognathus longimembris pacificus)	E	Whale, sperm (Physeter catodon [=macrocephalus])
E	Mouse, Perdido Key beach (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis)	E, XN, T	Wolf, gray (Canis lupus)
T	Mouse, Preble's meadow jumping (Zapus hudsonius preblei)	E, XN	Wolf, red (Canis rufus)
E	Mouse, salt marsh harvest (Reithrodontomys raviventris)	E	Woodrat, Key Largo (Neotoma floridana smalli)
T	Mouse, southeastern beach (Peromyscus polionotus niveiventris)	E	Woodrat, riparian (=San Joaquin Valley) (Neotoma fuscipes riparia)
E = Endangered
T = Threatened
T(SA) = Similarity of appearance to a threatened taxon
XN = experimental population, non-essential
SOURCE: Adapted from "U.S. Listed Vertebrate Animal Species Report by Taxonomic Group as of 02/17/2004," Threatened and Endangered Species System (TESS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, 2004 [Online] http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/TESSWebpageVipListed?code=V&listings=0#E [accessed February 17, 2004]

(39), Columbia (39), Cameroon (38), Thailand (37), and Japan (37).

The biggest cause of mammalian decline and extinction in the twentieth century is habitat loss and degradation. As humans convert forests, grasslands, rivers, and wetlands for various uses, they relegate many species to precarious existences in small, fragmented habitat patches. Primates, for example, are highly threatened partly because they are dependent on large expanses of tropical forests, a habitat under siege worldwide. In regions where tropical forest degradation and conversion have been most intense, such as South and Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and Brazil, as many as 70 percent of native primate species face extinction.

The introduction of invasive species by humans has also taken a toll on mammalian wildlife. Australia is overrun with domestic cats whose ancestors were brought by settlers to the island continent two hundred years ago. Stray domestic cats have driven indigenous species such as bandicoots, bettongs, numbats, wallabies, and dozens of other bird and mammal species, most of which are found nowhere else on Earth, towards extinction. Richard Evans, a member of the Australian Parliament, claims the feral cats are responsible for the extinction of at least thirty-nine species in Australia. He has called for total eradication of cats from the island by 2020, to be achieved by neutering pets and spreading feline diseases in the wild. The Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service reports that each house cats kills twenty-five native animals each year on average, and feral domestic cats kill as many as 1,000 per year.