Red squirrelISTOCK, STEFONLINTON An all-inclusive study published today (June 13) by The Mammal Society and Natural England found that at least one in five of the U.K.’s mammal species faces a severe threat of extinction. The review analyzed 20 years of population information for 58 of Britain’s terrestrial mammals.
Twelve species, including the red squirrel, the gray long-eared bat, and the water vole, have now made the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
“The report highlights an urgent requirement for more research to assess population densities in key habitats because at present, uncertainty levels are unacceptably high,” Fiona Mathews, an environmental biologist and coauthor on the study, says in a statement. Farming practices, increasing urbanization, and the introduction of invasive species are some of the responsible elements.
While the “best available data” were used, they were at times insufficient to draw conclusions from, Nathalie Pettorelli of the Zoological Society of London who was not part of the study tells The Guardian. “That said,” she adds, “these caveats are more ...
