Lemurs Named World’s Most Endangered Mammals
by Live Science staff
Of all the world’s animals living on the verge of extinction, Madagascar’s lemurs are teetering closest to the brink. A new assessment of these primates reveals they are probably the most endangered group of vertebrates on Earth, beating out all other mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and bony fish for the dismal distinction.
Ninety-one percent of the 103 known lemur species are threatened, conservationists concluded this week at a workshop of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission in Antanarivo, Madagascar’s capital. Twenty-three of the species are now considered “critically endangered,” 52 are “endangered,” and 19 are “vulnerable” on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, compared to 10 percent, 21 percent and 17 percent, respectively, at the time of the previous assessment carried out in 2005…
(read more: Live Science) (image: Conservation Intl./Sterling Zumbrunn)
