Bats, bushbabies and aardvark edge closer to extinction in southern Africa

A new list of threatened mammals in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini shows 11 more species are on the verge of extinction since 2016. Those that have joined the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s regional Red List of Endangered Mammals are: Lesueur’s hairy bat, laminated vlei rat, thick-tailed bush rat, ycterope and African fruit bat. The Namaqua Dune Mole Rat has experienced one of the sharpest declines, going from Least Concern to Endangered. Joseph Ogutu is a statistician who studies the collapse of wildlife populations in Africa. He explains that of the 336 mammals assessed, 70 are now threatened and 42% of mammals found only in South Africa are at risk of extinction.