Today a group of scientists announced a new effort to protect “the world’s most unusual, endangered and neglected species.” While gathering support for what they call “last-ditch” conservation efforts for these imperiled animals, the group’s top priority species–the Yangtze River dolphin–may already be lost to the world. The nine other species on their current priority list are hanging on by threads and, according to the group, are as unique to the biological world as the Mona Lisa is to art. The scientists call them “EDGE” species: “Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered,” and expects the list to grow to 100 species as their effort expands.
Source:
Scientists try to save the world’s rarest creatures. Reuters, January 16, 2007. Photo: A long-eared jeroba from Mongolia, one of the top ten EDGE species. Photo by R. Samiya.
More information:
http://www.edgeofexistence.org
You can find the entire article here
http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environ...es-on-the-edge