This shorebird is officially extinct, but there's still time to save the others.
What's happening?
The slender-billed curlew, a type of shorebird, has moved from the threat category "critically endangered" to officially extinct.
Its extinction status was based on recent analysis from the RSPB, BirdLife International, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, and the Natural History Museum, and the shorebird's extinction is "the first known global bird extinction from mainland Europe, North Africa, and West Asia," per BirdLife International.
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While the exact reason the slender-billed curlew went extinct is not certain, BirdLife International believes it was likely due to "extensive drainage of their raised bog breeding grounds for agricultural use, the loss of coastal wetlands used for winter feeding, and hunting," as well as "pollution, disease, predation, and climate change."
Why is their extinction important?
Extinction is a big problem. The IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species recognizes that "more than 46,300 species are threatened with extinction. That is still 28% of all assessed species."
That's nearly a third of all species being at risk of extinction, and if we don't take action, it will get worse. When a species goes extinct, its absence is felt throughout the entire ecosystem. It disrupts a delicate balance — animals that eat the extinct species have to find a new food source, and animals that were eaten by the extinct animal now could end up causing overpopulation problems.
What's being done about endangered species?
Extinction cannot be addressed without addressing climate change, which is a huge factor in extinction risks — loss of habitat, rising temperatures, and unstable ecosystems make it extremely difficult for endangered animals to recover.
Dr. Alex Bond, the senior curator in charge of birds at the Natural History Museum who aided in the search for the slender-billed curlew, told BirdLife International: "As climate change continues, this is going to be the status quo. Things are not getting better for birds. Tackling climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution is the best chance we've got at protecting them, at home and abroad."
There's a lot of work to do, but we've had many successes along the way. Newly advanced population maps are helping conservationists more accurately track and monitor endangered species, and with the right help from researchers, many endangered species can stabilize.
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