Giant pandas take the lion’s share of conservation attention but China has many endangered species in need such as tigers, dolphins and alligators
- The giant panda’s success in coming back from the brink has overshadowed the plight of less cute species, say some conservationists
- China has hundreds of species on the IUCN’s red list, many of them critically endangered
China is one of the world’s mega-diverse countries with varied environments ranging from desert to tropical forest, but after decades of economic development and population growth, hundreds of its animals and plants have been pushed to the edge of extinction.
The global benchmark for tracking endangered species is the IUCN Red List which sorts species into nine categories, from least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered through to extinct in the wild and extinct, as well as data deficient and not evaluated.
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Giant pandas in Hong Kong mate naturally for the first time in a decade
China has hundreds of species on the IUCN’s list, many of them critically endangered, but a lot are overlooked as they are often not considered cute or charismatic enough to motivate conservation efforts, according to some.
Olivia Couchman, the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) manager for its EDGE of Existence programme (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered), told environment website Mongabay that most of the world’s seriously endangered animals received little or no conservation funding or support.
“Large sections of the tree of life [are] completely absent from the conservation agenda,” she said.
“Charisma is subjective and even though EDGE species may not be traditionally charismatic, there is nothing else like them on Earth; they are unique in the way they live, look and behave.”