Mammals of the Northern Hemisphere

Mammals of the Northern Hemisphere — page 3 — instead of killing the animals forces them to live in smaller areas that cannot support such high numbers It is the larger species that have suffered most simply because they need large amounts of space just as we do Get rid of an elephant herd and it creates room for 100 people and their crops As numbers of humans have increased wild mammals have been pushed aside For example during a 30 year period when elephants declined drastically in Kenya the high human birthrate there meant that the lost elephants were replaced by almost exactly the same total tonnage of people Domestic mammals such as cattle sheep and goats have everywhere increased in numbers replacing their wild relatives and competing for the limited amounts of available food Exploitation Some wild mammals have been specially hunted for their skins such as the European mink pp 28 29 meat for example the wild yak pp 50 51 or other products Overexploitation has led to catastrophic population declines Again this particularly affects the larger species because they do not breed rapidly having few young and taking a long time to reach The lifeless body of a gray whale washed up on a beach after it was ensnared in a discarded fishing net Accidental deaths ranging from roadkills to incidents such as this claim the lives of mammals the world over breeding age Populations cannot cope with large numbers being killed and they collapse Larger mammals also tend to live longer often more than 20 years That allows time for poisons and other pollutants such as heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls known as PCBs to accumulate and take effect preventing breeding and causing sickness and sometimes even death The accumulation of poisons is less of a problem for animals that naturally live for only a short time Some mammals such as whales and many large land species are thinly spread over a wide area Their distribution therefore suggests a level of abundance that is misleading They seem to be common but widespread populations that are thin on the ground are vulnerable to fragmentation Once the population is broken into small groups they often include too few to be viable and they die out one after another Some The lack of natural food sources as a result of habitat disturbance can result in young being abandoned and conservationists intervening Here bats are fed from a syringe on goats milk

Mammals of the Northern Hemisphere — page 4 — WHAT IS A MAMMAL Percentage of mammals threatened 0 7 7 12 12 17 17 100 Northern hemisphere countries that have the highest percentage of threatened mammals above include India Ukraine and Vietnam species are at risk from interbreeding with their domesticated relatives creating hybrids Smaller Species Small mammals have problems too Their size makes them vulnerable to predators and to cold weather At least half of all known mammal species are rat sized or smaller One third of all mammals are rodents rats mice squirrels and so on and one in five is a bat These animals are often difficult to study and are normally largely ignored This means that we simply do not know what their real status is Their numbers are unknown and not monitored Many may go extinct them ever being recorded as being present These are special problems for mammals but like other animals the mammals also suffer from habitat destruction Those that are adapted to a particular way of life suffer heavily from the cutting down of trees or the mass removal of their food such as fish to feed humans This is a particular problem where populations are small to start with Numbers of Threatened Species in Each of the Major Mammalian Groups Rodents mice squirrels and beavers Bats Carnivores dogs cats bears and otters Primates monkeys apes and lemurs Ungulates horses rhinos hippos deer and antelope Marsupials 461 253 98 224 149 61 Rodents which constitute 30 percent of all mammals represent the highest number of threatened species above The Situation Today There are about 5,500 species of mammal but nearly 10,000 species of birds and almost 40,000 fish About 80 to 90 mammal species have become extinct in the last 300 years and many subspecies and local varieties are also extinct or nearly so Of the living species about 3 4 percent are now Critically Endangered 8 2 percent Endangered and 9 0 percent Vulnerable In total about 25 percent of all known mammals are significantly threatened in some way That is about twice the proportion of threatened birds The most endangered major group is the primates 45 percent of all primates are threatened 7

Mammals of the Northern Hemisphere — page 5 — Asiatic Lion Panthera leo persica EX EW CR EN VU NT LC The African lion may be familiar and still relatively numerous but the Asian subspecies has become rare and is now confined to a single reserve in northwestern India O lions lions are widespread over much of Africa south of the Sahara but one subspecies the Barbary lion used to occur only in the north The Barbary was the animal seen in Roman arenas fighting gladiators to the death At one time the Barbary lions and their close relatives were found from northern Africa throughout the Middle East to India All are now extinct but a similar subspecies the Asiatic lion survives in the Gir Forest in northwestern India A Shrinking Range Because of the threat that lions pose to humans and livestock they have been systematically eradicated from most of their former range The last European lions were killed about 1,000 years ago and once DATA PANEL guns became widely available they disappeared rapidly from the Middle East along with other large animals In India British soldiers and Indian nobles hunted the Asian subspecies for sport By 1900 only a few dozen were left they lived in the Gir Forest where a local prince protected them At that time the dry savanna and deciduous forest covered about 1,000 square miles 2,600 sq km but it has since shrunk to half that size Much of what remains is now protected as a national park The area is small however and is surrounded by cultivated land so the lions are effectively marooned on a patch of suitable habitat of little more than 20 to 40 square miles 50 to 100 sq km PAKISTAN INDIA Gir Forest CHINA NEPAL BHUTAN BANGLADESH SRI LANKA Moreover they do not have the forest to themselves there are several temples in the park and five main roads and a railway track cross it Large numbers of people are present at all times and some have been killed by the lions there were 81 attacks on humans resulting in 16 Diet Mainly deer and medium-sized mammals Breeding Average of 2 or 3 cubs per litter born after 4-month gestation Young take 4 8 years to reach maturity Life span up to about 20 years Related endangered species Tiger Panthera tigris EN snow leopard Uncia uncia EN Status IUCN CR Asiatic lion Panthera leo persica Family Felidae World population About 360 Distribution Gir Forest Gujarat State northwestern India Habitat Dry forest and acacia savanna Size Length head body up to about 6 5 ft 2 m tail about 3 ft 1 m Weight male 350 420 lb 160 190 kg female 240 260 lb 110 120 kg Form Similar to African lion but with thicker coat and longer tail tassel more pronounced tuft of hair on elbows males do not develop large mane 8

Mammals of the Northern Hemisphere — page 6 — ASIATIC LION Female Asiatic lions rear their young together and suckle cubs other than their own for up to six months The cubs start eating meat at three months deaths between 1988 and 1990 To ease the problem the sanctuary has been extended However space is limited Over 100,000 people live with their livestock within 6 miles 10 km of the park Domestic animals compete for food with the wild deer that the lions need as prey When the lions go hungry they turn to killing cattle The government compensates local farmers for losses but even so lions are killed in revenge from time to time The cramped conditions create another danger With the last Asiatic lions confined to one small area there is a risk that the entire population could be wiped out by disease In 1994 an outbreak of distemper left scores of African lions dead in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania eastern Africa a similar disaster in the Gir Forest could make the Asiatic lion extinct One solution would be to establish another population elsewhere One attempt to start a new population has already failed probably as a result of illegal poisoning and shooting of the animals but Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh India has been proposed as a new reintroduction site 9

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