- Scientists estimate that only 10% of all the species on the planet have been described. Among our closest kin, mammals, that number jumps to 80%, but even this well-studied group still holds mysteries.
- According to a new predictive model, most of that hidden mammal diversity consists of small-bodied animals such as rodents and bats that live across larger ranges and in wet tropical areas.
- Researchers used machine learning and a supercomputer to analyze a massive global data set of known mammalian species traits, life histories, records of occurrence, and more than 90,000 gene sequences to make their predictions.
- Understanding the differences in species can be important for conservation work, but there is also an intrinsic value to life, experts say, and to recognizing these species before they are lost.
“Mammals have received a lot more attention from scientists than most other groups of species,” Bryan Carstens, a professor at The Ohio State University, told Mongabay. “Yet still roughly 20% of the mammal diversity is yet to be described.”
https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...al-species-still-unidentified-study-says/amp/