Conservation efforts directed towards just 0.7% of the world’s land mass could help protect 1/3 of the world’s threatened and unique tetrapod species.
Conservation efforts directed towards just 0.7% of the world’s land mass could help protect 1/3 of the world’s threatened and unique tetrapod species.
The study, led by researchers at Imperial College London and published in Nature Communications, finds that large gains in conservation are possible by focusing on areas home to exceptional biodiversity and species with high levels of evolutionary distinctiveness and global endangerment.
These endangered species include animals like the aye-aye, a highly distinctive lemur found in Madagascar; the long-legged and eagle-bodied secretary bird; the purple frog, which has a nose similar to a pig; and the gharial, a long-snouted and critically endangered crocodile found in the Indian subcontinent.
Read more at Imperial College London
Image: Red bellied lemur in Madagascar, one of the EDGE species identified (Credit: ZSL Rikki Gumbs)
