More than 900 scientists have assessed the threat to reptiles around the world for the first time. Their conclusion: More than a fifth of all species of these terrestrial vertebrates are endangered or threatened with extinction, as the international working group reports in the journal »Nature«. The animals would be pushed back mainly by agriculture, forest clearing, settlement construction and introduced species.
The researchers checked a total of 10,196 species. 1829 of these are now classified as endangered, critically endangered or critically endangered. 31 species are already extinct, another 40 are very likely. To the surprise of the researchers, reptiles that live in forests are more endangered than those in arid regions. As in the case of many other animal species, habitat loss in particular has ensured that the number of reptiles has declined sharply. But not only the destruction of habitat by humans exacerbates the threat situation, but also illegal hunting and trading. 58 percent of all turtle species and 50 percent of all crocodile species are threatened with extinction because they are caught and sold.
The research group was not able to provide an assessment for all reptile species. Insufficient data are available, especially on animals that occur in small areas. That’s at least 1500 species. As the scientists suspect, a similar proportion of them is likely to be endangered as is the case with the known species. From this they determined that more than 21 percent of all reptile species are threatened.