Destruction of habitats, pollution, climatic upheavals, smuggling: animal species face many dangers. With these ten species from Quebec and elsewhere, “Le Devoir” offers you an overview of the erosion of biodiversity in the animal world.
African forest elephant
Loxodonta cyclotis
In Lopé National Park, Gabon, the hotter and drier climate is hampering the production of some fruit trees. Forest elephants, who depend on it for food, are losing dangerously little weight. Thus, even in an immaculate natural environment, these large mammals suffer from anthropogenic disturbances.
red bat
Lasiurus borealis
This migratory species, which is not considered threatened, nevertheless has only low numbers in Quebec. It is thus the subject of a recovery plan led by the Ministry of Wildlife. A panoply of human activities contribute to its fragility: wind farms, residential construction, agriculture, forestry, pollution, etc.
White-rumped Vulture
Gyps bengalensis
This scavenger, once numbered in the millions in India, has now almost disappeared in this country. Its catastrophic decline is attributed to an anti-inflammatory drug administered by veterinarians to cattle. The bird ingests it in spite of itself by feeding on the carcasses of these animals.
Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander
Desmognathus ochrophaeus
This lungless amphibian, which can only live in a very humid environment, is extremely rare. In Quebec, only the population of Covey Hill, in Montérégie, is known. Groundwater pumping and pollution are the greatest threats facing this species.
Wolverine
Gulo Gulo
The wolverine is not doing too badly in northern Canada, but we hardly see it anymore in Quebec. Because of its large territory, it is difficult to detect a trend in its population. This carnivore, a victim of the fragmentation of its territory and global warming, is of great cultural importance for many Aboriginal communities.
American eel
Anguilla rostrata
Once the object of an important fishery in eastern Quebec, the eel is now threatened in the country. This fish is born in the Sargasso Sea, migrates to the fresh waters of rivers and lakes (where it spends 20 years), and then returns to breed at its birthplace. Among other obstacles, hydroelectric dams hinder its life cycle.
boreal locust
Melanoplus borealis
Climate change threatens this insect in some southern parts of its range. At the top of the Chic-Chocs mountains, in Gaspésie, the melting of the permafrost will cause the disappearance of the tundra which serves as its habitat within a few decades.
Orsini’s Viper
Vipera ursinii
This slightly venomous snake is undergoing a marked decline, especially in Europe, where it is considered “vulnerable”. The destruction of its natural habitat, made up of meadows and plains, for the benefit of agricultural crops, represents the main threat to it.
Gold-banded phyllobate
Phyllobates aurotaenia
A resident of the rainforests of Colombia, this tiny frog scares its predators with an extremely potent toxin seeping from its skin. A “near threatened” species, it is smuggled. The Washington Convention limits the collection of phyllobates in nature, the toxin of which is of great interest to pharmaceutical companies.
Finless porpoise
Neophocaena phocaenids
It is estimated that only a thousand flightless porpoises remain in the Yangtze River, China. This cetacean endemic to the famous river – one of the most polluted in the world – suffers a lot from overfishing, because it gets entangled in the nets intended for fish. Last year, Beijing raised the level of protection for the species.