Subject: Endangered and threatened U.S. animals and plants
Date: Mar 5 20:31:31 1999
From: Eugene Kridler - ekridler at olympus.net
The latest issue of the Endangered Species Bulletin dated November,
l998 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has the official list and
numbers as follows:
Endangered Threatened
Mammals 59 8
Birds 75 l5
Reptiles l4 2l
Amphibians 9 7
Fishes 69 39
Snails 18 l0
Clams 6l 8
Crustaceans l7 3
Insects 28 9
Arachnids 5 0
Total Animals 355 l20
Flowering Plants 539 l32
Conifers 2 l
Ferns and Others 26 2
Total Plants 567 l35
Grand Total 922 255
29 species of endemic Hawaiian birds are endangered. 1 bird
species is threatened. More than any other state. Its only two
endemic mammals are endangered. The Hawaiian Monk Seal
and Hawaiian Hoary Bat. Of the only other species of Monk
Seals, the Caribbean is considered as extinct and the
Mediterranean is almost extinct. Hawaii has a carnivorous
caterpillar. Many more snails and plants are candidates for listing
as endangered or threatened.
How many animals and plants in the world will become extinct
through human thoughtlesness, greed or apathy. The last named is
the worst.
Eugene Kridler, Retired Endangered Species Coordinator, Central
and West Pacific Islands