A new report has painted a grim picture of the future for wildlife in the U.S.: Up to 40% of animal species and 34% of plant species are at risk of going extinct in the country, and up to 41% of U.S. ecosystems are at risk of range-wide collapse, meaning they could be lost forever.
NatureServe President Sean O'Brien said the report's conclusions were"terrifying," but he hopes it will help lawmakers understand the urgency of passing new protections, Reuters reported.The animals most at risk are snails, with 75% of freshwater snails and 74% of terrestrial snails at risk of extinction, followed by freshwater mussels , crayfish , shrimps and bees .
Among plants, cacti are the most threatened group, with 48% at risk, followed by orchids , trees and grasses . Some notable at-risk plants include the Venus flytrap , which is imperiled, and the maple leaf oak , which is critically imperiled. The scientists wrote that plants will be particularly vulnerable in the future because they do not receive the same level of conservation funding as animals do.
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harryjpbaker Seriously? Extinction is the rule, not the exception. Unbelievable. Spread the anxiety, right?
'Lost forever' is quite inaccurate. We're about to resurrect the dodo and the wooly mammoth. There's no reason we can't reintroduce recently extinct species in the future