The World most Endangered Animals

The World most Endangered AnimalsMexico's Santa Catalina Island rattlesnake has been classified as critically endangered.The snake, found on just one island, sports highly desirable patterned skin that hasmade it a collector's item for hunters.New reptile surveys are revealing the fragile nature of many reptile populations.For instance, a major survey of North American reptiles has bumped up the region's Red List reptile species to a total of 738.The main culprit behind their decline is habitat loss due to expanding cities, Caroline Pollock, a Red List program officer, told National Geographic News. Unlike birds and mammals, we haven't assessed all the reptiles on the planet.

The Egyptian vulture, a new additio, has declined along with many other vulture species. Five species of vulture, including the Egyptian, have been reclassified to a higher threat level since 2006. Asian vultures have declined rapidly over the last eight years due to the use of a livestock drug called diclofenac.African vultures are struggling due to habitat loss, a lack of food, and collisions with power lines.The scavengers are also being killed by insecticide-laden carcasses, which have been deliberately baited to poison livestock predators such as hyenas.

The Banggai cardinal fish's popularity as a pet for the home aquarium has landed it .In the wild, the striped fish is only found in the Banggai Archipelago off Indonesia. Human pressures such as the aquarium trade are the main reason for the fish's decline, with habitat loss and climate change also posing major threats.Fish stocks are in free-fall all over the world, both from overfishing and the aquarium trade. Scientists estimate current extinction rates are at least a hundred to a thousand times higher than natural rates.

Reptiles such as the gharial are becoming more prominent on the IUCN's Red List each year. Despite its fearsome appearance and lengths of up to 19 feet the Indian gharial is not a man-eater and prefers to eat fish. Its long, thin snout, which makes it easily distinguishable from a crocodile, also allows it to quickly capture fish. Habitat loss and poaching is driving the animal toward extinction.

For the first time, corals were added to the 2007 Red List. A recent scientific survey on the Galápagos Archipelago has added ten corals to the list, including the Floreana coral. In the 1980s, frequent El Niño weather patterns—which made ocean temperatures fluctuate—likely led to the poor state of the Galápagos corals. Some scientists worry that global warming may make El Niño events more regular and prevent corals from recovering. Until recently, scientists had not properly assessed the health of the world's tropical corals. Scientists estimate that human activities—such as pollution, global warming, and sedimentation—could kill 30 percent of reefs in the next three decades. Coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Ocean, for example, are vanishing faster than rain forests.