Australian mammals on brink of 'extinction calamity'

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

10 February 2015 Last updated at 12:58 GMT

Australian mammals on brink of 'extinction calamity'

By Helen Briggs
Environment Correspondent

Australia has lost one in ten of its native mammals species over the last 200 years in what conservationists describe as an "extinction calamity".

No other nation has had such a high rate of loss of land mammals over this time period, according to scientists at Charles Darwin University, Australia.

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But a new survey of Australia's native mammals, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests the scale of the problem is more serious than anticipated.

Since 1788, 11% of 273 native mammals living on land have died out, 21% are threatened and 15% are near threatened, the study found. Marine mammals are faring better.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31359188

[Nihil]

1. They are not the only ones but most people only care about a single (very selfish) species. (n/t)