August 8 marked Earth Overshoot Day, a day marked to remind us how we are exhausting the resources provided by Mother Earth. That day was a grim and gut-wrenching reminder of how we humans are living well beyond our means by using more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate. We do this through overfishing, over-harvesting forests and relentlessly burning more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than forests and the oceans can sequester. Now we have been warned that as a result of our gluttonous consumption of the earth’s resources, vertebrate populations will have declined by 58 percent since 1970 to 67 percent in less than four years.
Pangolins, often called “scaly anteaters,” are covered in tough, overlapping scales. These burrowing mammals eat ants and termites using an extraordinarily long, sticky tongue, and are able to quickly roll themselves up into a tight ball when threatened. Eight different pangolin species can be found across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Poaching for illegal wildlife trade and habitat loss have made these incredible creatures one of the most endangered groups of mammals in the world.The Guardian reports on the study findings from the Living Planet Index.
The creatures being lost range from mountains to forests to rivers and the seas and include well-known endangered species such as elephants and gorillas and lesser known creatures such as vultures and salamanders.
The collapse of wildlife is, with climate change, the most striking sign of the Anthropocene, a proposed new geological era in which humans dominate the planet. “We are no longer a small world on a big planet. We are now a big world on a small planet, where we have reached a saturation point,” said Prof Johan Rockström, executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, in a foreword for the report.
Pollution is also a significant problem with, for example, killer whales and dolphins in European seas being seriously harmed by long-lived industrial pollutants. Vultures in south-east Asia have been decimated over the last 20 years, dying after eating the carcasses of cattle dosed with an anti-inflammatory drug. Amphibians have suffered one of the greatest declines of all animals due to a fungal disease thought to be spread around the world by the trade in frogs and newts.
Rivers and lakes are the hardest hit habitats, with animals populations down by 81% since 1970, due to excessive water extraction, pollution and dams. All the pressures are magnified by global warming, which shifts the ranges in which animals are able to live, said WWF’s director of science, Mike Barrett.
Easy to catch, these marine creatures are killed for their shell, which is used to make jewelry and various ornaments. Inhabitat.com