Forest Giraffes, White winged Flufftail Added to IUCN's Red List

The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals that giraffe species -the Okapi, also called as the forest giraffe and White winged Flufftail- are on the brink of extinction.

The update from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) highlights the alarming rate at which the populations of Okapi and sub-Saharan White Winged Flufftail are shrinking.

The good news is that the update highlights that two species of albatross, the Leatherback Turtle and the Island Fox (mainly found in California's Channel Island) are showing positive signs of recovery.

Okapi (Okapia johnsyoni), also called as the forest giraffe, is a national symbol of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is the closest relative of giraffe and lives in the eastern montane rainforests. Due to habitat destruction and poaching, the species face a great threat and are now being classified as endangered. It is estimated that there are just 10,000-35,000 Okapis present in the wild globally.

Nearly 71,576 species were assessed out of which almost 21,286 species were threatened with extinction.

"The Okapi is revered in Congo as a national symbol - it even features on the Congolese franc banknotes," Dr Noelle Kumpel, Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group and manager of ZSL's range-wide okapi conservation project, said in a statement. "Sadly, DRC has been caught up in civil conflict and ravaged by poverty for nearly two decades, leading to widespread degradation of Okapi habitat and hunting for its meat and skin. Supporting government efforts to tackle the civil conflict and extreme poverty in the region are critical to securing its survival."

The latest update also claims that nearly 200 species of birds are at the moment Critically Endangered and are at the greater risk of being extinct.

Apart from Okapi, the White-winged Flufftail (Sarothrura ayresi), a rare African bird, mainly found in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, is being added to list of threatened species. The bird faces a great threat from destruction, degradation of habitat, wetland drainage, conversion for agriculture, lack of marsh vegetation.

In order to save the shrinking population of these two species, it is necessary to understand their ecology as well as take strict conservative measures.

"This IUCN Red List update shows some fantastic conservation successes, which we must learn from, for future conservation efforts," says Jane Smart, Global Director, IUCN Biodiversity Conservation Group, "However, the overall message remains bleak. With each update, whilst we see some species improving in status, there is a significantly larger number of species appearing in the threatened categories. The world must urgently scale up efforts to avert this devastating trend."