Perversely, the species that humans show greatest affinity towardthe largest mammals such as primates, big cats, and whalesare significantly more likely to be threatened with extinction, Barney Long, a biologist at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C., said in an email.
Some of the most threatened species are found in Asia, a region undergoing rapid human population and economic growth.
This is leading to habitat loss due to agricultural expansion; development of infrastructure such as roads, which fragment critical landscapes; and increasing areas for industrial crops such as oil palm and pulp for paper, said Long, who helped create the new assessment.
Currently, 79 percent of Asias primate species face extinction.
Worldwide, habitat loss affects roughly 40 percent of threatened mammal species, while human hunting affects 17 percent, Long said.
Seventy-eight percent of marine mammals are threatened by accidental deaths, such as becoming bycatch in fishing nets intended for other species.
Marine mammals are threatened purely because humankind does not care enough to mitigate deaths that do not even benefit our species, Long said.
All these threats represent human-driven activities that, if not controlled, will soon lead to a dramatic increase in the 76 species of mammal that are known to have gone extinct since 1500, Long said.
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