dv said:
26 years ago, Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine made a radio serial, and later a book, in which they checked out various endangered species around the world. It was called Last Chance To See.
Out of interest, I checked up on how those species are going now.
Aye-aye: this specialised lemur has now been found in 13 national parks, and dozens of aye-ayes are in zoos and breeding programs around the world, so it is no immediate danger. IUCN status: endangered.
Komodo dragon: about 4000 dragons exist on Komodo now, which is moderately abundant for a predator. IUCN status: vulnerable.
Kakapo: thanks to intensive breeding and relocation programs, the kakapo seems to be back from the brink but not out of the woods. The are approximately 100 of these birds in existence. IUCN STATUS: critically endangered.
Mountain gorilla. Now exists in two populations in national parks, each with a population of 300 or so. IUCN status: critically endangered.
Northern white rhino: it was completely wiped out in the wild by 2006. Three animals have been rewilded from Zoos into nationsl parks. Two NWR still exist in captivity. Smart money weems to be that there is little hope of successful breeding. IUCN STATUS: critically endangered.
Baiji: not sighted since 2004. IUCN status: critically endangered, probably extinct.
Rodrigues flying fox: seems to be in the same state as it was back in 1989. Several hundred still around.
IUCN status: critically endangered.
Amazonian manatee: there has been a gradual decline in sightings in the wild but it seems there is no immediate threat of extinction. IUCN status: vulnerable.
Juan Fernandez fur seal. By the time LCTS was made, these animals’ numbers had already rebounded from 200 up into the thousands, and have increased to over 10000 by now. IUCN status: near threatened.
Thanks for that update, DV. Are any of those subspecies, rather than full species?
Yes, the mountain gorilla is a subspecies, in total the species has about 5,700 individuals, so others may be subspecies too.
In Borneo several species including the Bornean rhinoceros are still listed on the “do not kill this animal” poster despite being already extinct.
What’s the Baiji? (checks web) “a freshwater dolphin found only in the Yangtze River in China. The first known aquatic mammal species to become extinct since the demise of the Japanese sea lion and the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s. It would also be the first recorded extinction of a well-studied cetacean species to be directly attributable to human influence.” Closest relatives – no close relatives, it was the only member of its superfamily Lipotoidea. First scientifically described only in 1978, classified as Lipotoidea in 1988. Last confirmed live individual died in 2002.