By Kiley Price
April 27, 2022
Study: More than a fifth of reptile species face extinction
5 min
This post was updated on May 31, 2022.
In the most comprehensive review yet of the risks facing reptiles, scientists find that more than a fifth of all these species are threatened with extinction.
“Reptiles are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates — we’re talking about species that have been largely overlooked in conservation studies — and the potential loss is striking,” said Conservation International scientist Neil Cox, who co-led the study.
“This threat analysis is the most extensive to date. We’ve found more reptile species are threatened than birds, a sign that global efforts to conserve them must be ramped up.”
The edge of extinction
In evolutionary terms, reptiles have had a very successful track record — surviving catastrophic meteors, continental drifts and fluctuating temperatures over hundreds of millions of years.
But in the Anthropocene, an era dominated by human impacts, their resilience may be coming to an end, according to Cox.
“Our data shows that reptiles are increasingly threatened by widespread habitat loss driven by logging and agricultural expansion” he said. “Increased reptile extinctions could throw food chains around the world off balance because these species play an indispensable role in ecosystems as both prey and predators for many other species.”
While the findings of this study are bleak, there is a silver lining, said Cox.
“Determining what activities are harming reptiles also gives us insight into how we can protect them,” he said.
For example, in India, urban development is pushing a species known as Thackeray's dwarf gecko to the brink of extinction. Armed with this information, local conservationists can develop strategies to protect the gecko, such as creating a conservation management area to prevent habitat loss.
The study found that many global conservation initiatives implemented for other species will likely benefit reptiles, particularly in the tropics. However, more targeted efforts will be necessary to protect the most vulnerable reptile species, such as heavily exploited freshwater turtle species, said Cox.
“Now that we have a global assessment of what’s hurting reptiles, we can incorporate this data into our conservation practices and policies,” he said. “It’s time to give reptiles their due. We cannot let this group of animals, which have survived on Earth for millennia, fall through the cracks of conservation efforts.”
Stay close to the work
