IUCN Red List Update - July 2022

DesertRhino150

DesertRhino150

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Another update for the IUCN Red List dropped today. I figured I would go through and note any changes that pertain to species kept in zoos.

Among mammals:
- Both the long-tailed and Southern pig-tailed macaques have now been upgraded to Endangered
- The Malagasy giant rat has moved up from Endangered to Critically Endangered
- The golden hamster has moved up from Vulnerable to Endangered

Among birds (although all the zoo species improved in their Red List status, most are still listed as being in decline):
- The Mariana fruit-dove has moved from Endangered down to Near Threatened
- The Congo peafowl has moved from Vulnerable down to Near Threatened
- Both the channel-billed and red-billed toucans have moved from Vulnerable to Near Threatened
- The gouldian finch has moved from Near Threatened down to Least Concern (this one is now listed as having a stable population)
- The blue-winged goose has moved from Vulnerable down to Near Threatened

Among reptiles:
- Although many species were assessed, the only semi-regular zoo species I noted that has changed status is the armadillo lizard, which went from Least Concern to Near Threatened

Among amphibians (mainly seems to have been devoted to Europe and North America/Caribbean):
- Lanza's alpine salamander has moved from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered
- Italian cave salamander has moved from Near Threatened to Endangered
- The Danube crested newt has moved from Near Threatened to Least Concern

Among bony fishes (lots of these, mainly focused on South American small fishes):
- The sterlet has moved from Vulnerable to Endangered
 
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Could you send the pdf of changes? Also I'm shocked that long-taileds are endangered, I always thought they were common 'pests' of SEA cities.
 
WalkingAgnatha said:
Could you send the pdf of changes? Also I'm shocked that long-taileds are endangered, I always thought they were common 'pests' of SEA cities.
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Not sure how to do a PDF of the changes - I found out all the information about the changes by filtering the results to the most recent update.

As for the long-tailed macaque, it seems that a lot of Asian countries have no estimates about their population and, believing them to be impervious to threats, are allowing widespread removal of animals for laboratories. Looking at the assessment information, a primatologist back in 2008 likened the plight of the macaque to that of the passenger pigeon.
 
Haliaeetus said:
The Gouldian Finch at least is reported to be stable.
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Thank you. I have edited the original post to reflect this.

There actually is another zoo bird that has been updated - the Malay crestless fireback pheasant has moved from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.

Fortunately, according to the most recent EAZA TAG report, there is a cooperative effort between Warsaw Zoo (Poland) and Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) that will see the creation of new fireback breeding aviaries at Batu, with the intent of then importing some of the captive-born chicks to Europe in order to establish an insurance population.
 
Julio C Castro said:
It appears that the migratory Monach Butterfly population is now considered Endangered by the IUCN Red List :(

Migratory monarch butterfly now Endangered - IUCN Red List
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Interesting. While they have experienced huge declines they are still very common in most areas. In fact they are one of the most common butterfly species in many areas they occur. While the species' heavy declines are certainly noteworthy and conservation action does need to be taken, I really don't think listing it as Endangered is an accurate assessment. Near Threatened certainly, Vulnerable maybe.
 
birdsandbats said:
Interesting. While they have experienced huge declines they are still very common in most areas. In fact they are one of the most common butterfly species in many areas they occur. While the species' heavy declines are certainly noteworthy and conservation action does need to be taken, I really don't think listing it as Endangered is an accurate assessment. Near Threatened certainly, Vulnerable maybe.
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I think the key part in the assessment is that they’re speaking on the migratory population not the sedentary population. I don’t know what differences are between both populations(aside from one being migratory) but it appears that the sedentary population is still common at the moment. Unfortunately the IUCN website is down now so I’ll have to read it again to see what I missed :oops:
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Regarding the monarch butterfly, the species as a whole is still listed as Least Concern. It is only the migratory population that is Endangered.
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Julio C Castro said:
I think the key part in the assessment is that they’re speaking on the migratory population not the sedentary population. I don’t know what differences are between both populations(aside from one being migratory) but it appears that the sedentary population is still common at the moment. Unfortunately the IUCN website is down now so I’ll have to read it again to see what I missed :oops:
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Everything I said still applies to the migratory populations only.
 
birdsandbats said:
Everything I said still applies to the migratory populations only.
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Maybe it’s due to the sharp decline in the past decade alone within NA? The IUCN website is back up and it mentions that it has declined between 22% and 72%, quite a massive drop in a short period :/
 
I wonder what is the situation of both Pig-tailed Macaques in Europe and North America? It is possible to create a viable population? They could take over space of part of very large populations of Rhesus Macaques and baboons.

And I feel zoos must change their collection planning.

Species decline nowadays in the matter of few years, which is much faster than zoo community can make a conservation plan. And it became extremely difficult to impossible to import species not yet in collections.

The answer is for zoos to try maintaining all species in their collections. Even commoner ones can become endangered very quickly, and obtaining them will be impossible. This is what happened to Golden-bellied Mangabeys in the last decade, which keeping was mostly abandoned in Europe and were declared endangered in the wild.
 
Jurek7 said:
And I feel zoos must change their collection planning.

Species decline nowadays in the matter of few years, which is much faster than zoo community can make a conservation plan. And it became extremely difficult to impossible to import species not yet in collections.

The answer is for zoos to try maintaining all species in their collections.
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Unfortunately in the AZA the policies are pushing towards standardization. Very sad and frustrating to see.
 
Jurek7 said:
I wonder what is the situation of both Pig-tailed Macaques in Europe and North America? It is possible to create a viable population? They could take over space of part of very large populations of Rhesus Macaques and baboons.

And I feel zoos must change their collection planning.

Species decline nowadays in the matter of few years, which is much faster than zoo community can make a conservation plan. And it became extremely difficult to impossible to import species not yet in collections.

The answer is for zoos to try maintaining all species in their collections. Even commoner ones can become endangered very quickly, and obtaining them will be impossible. This is what happened to Golden-bellied Mangabeys in the last decade, which keeping was mostly abandoned in Europe and were declared endangered in the wild.
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The Southern (Sunda) Pig-tailed Macaque isn't really rare in the European Union, with 22 zoos having it. We must add many collections in ex-USSR, Middle East and Asia.
The Northern species is much more rare in Europe, with only 1 collection posseding it in EU (Montemor-o-Novo in Portugal), plus 4 in the ex-USSR (Russia and Kazakhstan).
 
Jurek7 said:
I wonder what is the situation of both Pig-tailed Macaques in Europe and North America? It is possible to create a viable population? They could take over space of part of very large populations of Rhesus Macaques and baboons
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Very poor - and Rhesus is little better in zoos. None of them reside in AZA facilities, indeed most are in rather shabby places.

IndianRhino said:
Pig-tailed Macaque (Macaca nemestrina) -- 2 Total Holders (2.0.0)

USA-
DeYoung Family Zoo
Indian Creek Zoo

Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) -- 5 Total Holders (3.2.0)

USA-
Lynnwood Park Zoo
Timber Creek Petting Farm
Worldwide Primates

Canada-
Fauna Foundation
Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary
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Haliaeetus said:
Is it possible to start breeding programs with former lab animals, if their behaviour isn't too much altered ?
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Maybe? Nobody's interested though. The only Macaque in any sort of decent situation here is Japanese. Everything else (including multiple endangered species) are falling by the wayside. This includes Lion-tailed, Pig-tailed, and Sulawesi Cresteds.
 
Great Argus said:
Maybe? Nobody's interested though. The only Macaque in any sort of decent situation here is Japanese. Everything else (including multiple endangered species) are falling by the wayside. This includes Lion-tailed, Pig-tailed, and Sulawesi Cresteds.
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In Europe the Lion-tailed and Sulawesi crested Macaques are quite frequent, not to mention the Barbary Ape that's extremely common across the zoos of the continent.
The Japanese species is common too, but clearly not a conservation priority.
 
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