Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species

January 16, 2007 10:14 AM

Saving the world’s weirdest creatures. The EDGE of Existence programme, a project of the Zoological Society of London, aims to conserve the world's most Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species by implementing the research and conservation actions needed to secure their future. [Via MoFi.]
posted by homunculus (8 comments total)

Nice links, thanks!
posted by dead_ at 11:14 AM on January 16, 2007

Shouldn't the worlds' navies help preserve the Aye Aye?
posted by Cranberry at 1:30 PM on January 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

They need to get off their butts and find a megalodon, so they can add megalodons to the list.
posted by melangell at 1:54 PM on January 16, 2007

aw, Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna is a loveable looking critter.

It's known from a single specimen collected by a Dutch botanist in 1961, and currently held in the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden. The species is believed to be restricted to a single mountain peak in the Cyclops Mountains in the Indonesian province of Papua (on the island of New Guinea). There have been few systematic attempts to survey the flora and fauna of the Cyclops Mountains and no mammal surveys in the region since the type specimen was collected. The main threats to the species are not known, although other long-beaked echidnas are threatened by hunting and human encroachment onto their habitat.

Dang, a single mountain peak? That's pretty rare.

aw The slender loris, those eyes!

And the golden-rumped elephant shrew, what a marvelous name for that little rascal.


Thanks for the (as usual) fascinating and informative post homunculus.
posted by nickyskye at 3:31 PM on January 16, 2007

Amazing collection: eponysterical, miniscule , star-warsian , yikes!

Great post. For more on indris and malagasay (madagascan) wildlife, see Lords and Lemurs.
posted by lalochezia at 3:55 PM on January 16, 2007

thanks!
posted by nj_subgenius at 5:47 PM on January 16, 2007

lalochezia, What was your star-warsian link supposed to be? Your yikes link reminded me of the night I went to buy some chang in the Tibetan settlement, Majnu ka Tilla, in Delhi, a funky place by the Jamuna river. Under the street lamp I saw a small pig but then.. it jumped and I saw its long tail. It was a RAT (like this big). A huge jumping river rat. Now that was a yikes.
posted by nickyskye at 9:11 PM on January 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

As we drive the evolution of species, humans may be building a future with ever more diverse pests and pathogens and without the creatures we value most.
posted by homunculus at 7:30 PM on January 17, 2007