20 Endangered Species at Risk in Ukraine

UngulateNerd92

UngulateNerd92

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Will Russia’s invasion threaten not just innocent people but the country’s unique wildlife?

The Russian bombs falling on Ukraine are putting millions of people and a vibrant culture at risk.

Vladimir Putin’s invading forces could also damage the Ukrainian landscape, home to dozens of unique and endangered species.

Here are 20 species that could find themselves further threatened by the invasion.

Russian desman (Desmana moschata) — The only member of its genus, this endangered semiaquatic mammal is related to moles (and like moles, it’s functionally blind). Found in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine — and recently extinct in nearby Belarus — the species faces declines due to poachers’ fishing nets and habitat loss. It went extinct in Ukraine in the 19th century but was reintroduced there in the 1950s — around the same time Joseph Stalin died.

Sandy mole-rat (Spalax arenarius) — A rodent unique to Ukraine, this endangered species has just one remaining stronghold, the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve, which may put it firmly in the path of Putin’s invading forces.

20 Endangered Species at Risk in Ukraine • The Revelator
 
birdsandbats said:
Unfortunately nearly every one of those species is at immediate risk due to this war.
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Absolutely, this is something our media should be bringing up and discussing as well. I do worry about possible extinctions because of this conflict. I know that I have said this on here time and time again before, but this is one of the circumstances that shines light on why I believe every wild animal and plant species, subspecies and distinct population segment when and where possible needs to have a captive/ex-situ insurance population.
 
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ZTL lists the number of zoos housing these species as follows:
Endangered: Russian desman 0; Saker falcon 147
?: Sandy mole rat 0; Vitrea nadejdae snail ?; Zubowski's plump bush cricket?; Idanvaskinen hoverfly?; Pontian shemaya 0; Crimean stone grasshopper 0; Melanogaster jaroslavensis fruit fly ?; Chornaya gudgeon 0; Retowsji's tongued bush cricket ?; Merodon dzhalitae hoverfly ?; Andrena labiatula bee ?; Cobitus taurica loach 0

Apart from the Saker falcon, none of the species seems to be kept in ZTL zoos
 
Dassie rat said:
ZTL lists the number of zoos housing these species as follows:
Endangered: Russian desman 0; Saker falcon 147
?: Sandy mole rat 0; Vitrea nadejdae snail ?; Zubowski's plump bush cricket?; Idanvaskinen hoverfly?; Pontian shemaya 0; Crimean stone grasshopper 0; Melanogaster jaroslavensis fruit fly ?; Chornaya gudgeon 0; Retowsji's tongued bush cricket ?; Merodon dzhalitae hoverfly ?; Andrena labiatula bee ?; Cobitus taurica loach 0

Apart from the Saker falcon, none of the species seems to be kept in ZTL zoos
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Zootierliste doesn't list any invertebrate species.
I must make this precision, even there's little chance that zoos house one or more of these species.
Moreover, the Saker Falcon isn't an Ukrainian endemic although it's a charismatic and typical bird of Eurasian steppes.
 
Before I started the list, I thought there would be more vertebrates. I realise that ZTL doesn't list invertebrates. The article listed 20 species of plants and animals living in Ukraine, rather than being endemic to it.
 
Here is a relevant article that discusses the Sandy mole rat (Spalax arenarius).

Here is another relevant article.

Amid war, Ukrainian biologists fight to protect conservation legacy
  • As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into a second year, conservation biologists have been forced to implement new solutions to protect their country’s conservation legacy.
  • Dangerous conditions have made it difficult to go afield and survey threatened species such as the sandy blind mole-rat, the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin, wetland birds and native plants, so finding ways to work away from field sites and conservation areas, has become key.
  • Missile strikes, fires and thefts have threatened both digital and physical conservation data, spurring the scientific community to digitize and upload as much information as possible to an international biodiversity database.
  • So far, 310,600 records have been added to the database, and physical assets like Kherson’s entire herbarium have been moved to safety in western Ukraine.
Before Ukrainian biologist Mikhail Rusin can grab his shovel and venture afield to search for burrows of the endangered sandy blind mole-rat, he first needs to ask locals if there are land mines nearby.

But that’s only one of the stresses of carrying out wildlife research in a war zone. In November 2022, Rusin, a mammalogist with Kyiv Zoo who has studied at-risk species like the mole-rat (Spalax arenarius) for more than 20 years, resumed his field research in newly reclaimed Ukrainian territory. Soon afterward, he encountered a chilling display of contempt: a tree with at least five hanged hamsters, one of which was a gray dwarf hamster (Cricetulus migratorius) – a species assessed as vulnerable by the country’s list of threatened species.

Rusin says he doesn’t know whether it was the work of retreating Russian soldiers or Ukrainian farmers fed up with rodents consuming their crops. Both Russians and Ukrainians, he says, “are always in constant stress” on the frontlines. “They could do something that in normal life they would never do.”

The mole-rats are having a hard time coping, too. The rodents, which are roughly the size of guinea pigs, have extremely limited vision and spend most of their lives underground. Now, they are even more elusive, dodging bombs and Russian infantry units that have dug trenches through the sliver of southern Ukraine that is the only known habitat of the endangered species.

Their plight exemplifies a larger problem in conservation: Not only is protecting it a low priority during wartime, but researchers can’t study it safely because of the surrounding danger. It’s an overlooked problem in conflict zones: With few resources to preserve protected areas and study at-risk species, the extinction risks to wildlife are largely unknown. As a result, species like the bald ibis have
disappeared from war-torn Syria and Libya
— and Ukraine’s sandy blind mole-rat could be next.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...sts-fight-to-protect-conservation-legacy/amp/
 
Russian desman has been updated to critically endangered now. Not sure how much care is given for these and other small animals. Sousliks and hamsters are key for Ukrain's steppe habitat but there is little reference to their conservation as far as I know and are close to extinction. Even the saker falcon is not widely referred but has received more care. Of concern in the country I would also refer European mink
 
Greaterbilby said:
Russian desman has been updated to critically endangered now. Not sure how much care is given for these and other small animals. Sousliks and hamsters are key for Ukrain's steppe habitat but there is little reference to their conservation as far as I know and are close to extinction. Even the saker falcon is not widely referred but has received more care. Of concern in the country I would also refer European mink
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Most of these species aren't Ukrainian endemics, they are more or less present in other Eurasian countries.
There's a rewilding project of the Danube delta, that encompasses Romania, Moldova and the south-western corner of Ukraine, it's still carried on in spite of the war since 2022 (there are some posts about it in other threads of this forum, especially "Rewilding"). Reintroduction of Steppe Marmots and European Hamsters happened there in the last years / months, in addition to larger wildlife (Fallow Deer, Kulan...).
The Saker Falcon benefits from conservation programs in Europe and in Asia.
I don't know any Mink conservation program in Ukraine but there are such programs in Baltic Europe (Estonia...), France and Spain at least.
 
Haliaeetus said:
Most of these species aren't Ukrainian endemics, they are more or less present in other Eurasian countries.
There's a rewilding project of the Danube delta, that encompasses Romania, Moldova and the south-western corner of Ukraine, it's still carried on in spite of the war since 2022 (there are some posts about it in other threads of this forum, especially "Rewilding"). Reintroduction of Steppe Marmots and European Hamsters happened there in the last years / months, in addition to larger wildlife (Fallow Deer, Kulan...).
The Saker Falcon benefits from conservation programs in Europe and in Asia.
I don't know any Mink conservation program in Ukraine but there are such programs in Baltic Europe (Estonia...), France and Spain at least.
Click to expand...
I did not say that they are endemics, I just said how things seems to be.
European mink may have possibilities for conservation in the Danube delta as well
 
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