IUCN Red List update December 2021

DesertRhino150

DesertRhino150

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Among the mammals:
- The Pyrenean desman has moved from Vulnerable to Endangered
- The red serow has moved from Near Threatened to Vulnerable

Among the birds:
- The crested argus has been split into two species - the Malaysian is Near Threatened while the Vietnamese is Critically Endangered
- Both the maleo and the yellow-naped amazon have moved from Endangered to Critically Endangered
- Both the harpy eagle and the crested wood partridge have moved from Near Threatened to Vulnerable
- Keel-billed toucan has moved from Least Concern to Near Threatened
- Hawaiian goose has moved from Vulnerable to Near Threatened

Among the reptiles (a lot of new species have been assessed for the first time here):
- The four species of beaded lizard have been added - the Guatemalan beaded lizard is Endangered, the Chiapan is Vulnerable and the Mexican and Rio Fuerte beaded lizards are both Least Concern
- The beauty snake (or cave racer) Elaphe taeniura joins the list as Vulnerable
- The black-headed bushmaster joins the list as Vulnerable, while the Central American bushmaster is Near Threatened

One thing I have noticed is that the Green List is now also active, with some species having their Green List ranking next to the Red List one on the search page - examples include the Eurasian otter, blue crane and bonnethead shark.

Information about the update can be found here:
Dragonflies threatened as wetlands around the world disappear - IUCN Red List
 
birdsandbats said:
What is the Green List?
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It is a global standard used to measure how close a species is to being ecologically functional across its range and how much it has recovered due to conservation action. This is the IUCN's news release about the Green List:
IUCN’s New “Green Status of Species” Measures Impact of Conservation Action

Here is the Eurasian otter species page as an example - even though it is only listed as Near Threatened, the Green List puts them as Largely Depleted:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
 
African savanna elephant moved to endangered again. Within a lifetime of an individual elephant the species must have changed IUCN status 3 or 4 times already.

IUCN red list is not very useful for planning conservation action – it changes too quickly to plan. It also contains a shifting baseline – after 10 years or 3 generations of animals, the decrease resets.

Not many changes to zoo mammals this time. Otherwise: red-crowned crane and cape vulture down to vulnerable, red-footed falcon, harpy eagle, crested partridge and blacktip shark up to vulnerable, maccoa duck, african spurred tortoise and komodo dragon up to endangered, maleo, black-naped pheasant-pigeon and giant asian pond turtle up to critical.
 
I add that the Cape Vulture (very rare in European collections, albeit presented in African and Middle Eastern facilities) has moved from Endangered to Vulnerable, some colonies showing signs of stability or even increase.
Even if the change is explained by "non-genuine" causes, this positive change is (nowadays) sufficiently rare and remarkable among African large raptors to be specifically noticed.
 
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Jurek7 said:
African savanna elephant moved to endangered again. Within a lifetime of an individual elephant the species must have changed IUCN status 3 or 4 times already.
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No, just African Elephant. IUCN doesn't accept the split for some reason.
 
The Black-faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara has just shifted from CR to EN in the last IUCN Red List update.
It was the only Lion Tamarin to remain CR until now.
I don't now if individuals are kept in captivity, perhaps in Brazilian facilities.
 
Looking through the IUCN Red List updates again, I have found a few other species with captive presence that are now listed as threatened.

The Ethiopian mountain adder Bitis parviocula (there are five collections in Europe housing this species) have been listed as Endangered, while both the rhinoceros viper Bitis nasicornis (fourteen collections in Europe house this species) and the gaboon viper Bitis gabonica (in Europe, there are twelve collections with East African, thirty with West African and thirteen with no listed subspecies) have been listed as Vulnerable.
 
Sarus Crane said:
This is great news for private aviculturists who want to keep the species now! Red Crowns rule!!!
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There is sayings about Red-crowned cranes degrading last year, but extreme animal rights organizations wants to assert this, because they afraid the Chinese populations are facing the threats of wild crane eggs stolen, but they failed. Many official news says the Red-crowned cranes are conserved well. China is doing a great job of nature conservation over these years, very well done China!

I think Asian crested ibis and the Black-faced spoonbill should also be pulled out from Endangered due to successful conservation efforts and increasing numbers.
 
What a pity hearing about Sulcata tortoises upgraded to Endangered, although it is the most successful captive-bred tortoise species sold as pets. Now I think there is almost NOBODY smuggling Sulcata tortoise to Eurasia and NA because of successful captive breeding efforts, it’s just the human population inclining and herding damaging the population.
 
Unenlagia90 said:
There is sayings about Red-crowned cranes degrading last year, but extreme animal rights organizations wants to assert this, because they afraid the Chinese populations are facing the threats of wild crane eggs stolen, but they failed. Many official news says the Red-crowned cranes are conserved well. China is doing a great job of nature conservation over these years, very well done China!

I think Asian crested ibis and the Black-faced spoonbill should also be pulled out from Endangered due to successful conservation efforts and increasing numbers.
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I also think that ex-situ populations of these two species could also be in the EAZA and AZA thanks to their increase in numbers.
 
Haliaeetus said:
The Black-faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara has just shifted from CR to EN in the last IUCN Red List update.
It was the only Lion Tamarin to remain CR until now.
I don't know if individuals are kept in captivity, perhaps in Brazilian facilities.
Click to expand...
Hey, Haliaeetus. There are no black-faced lion tamarins in captivity at all. Neither there are plans to hold any. Their known population has increased because some new groups have been discovered in national parks across São Paulo and Paraná.
 
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