Dwarf Blue Sheep

The Dwarf Blue Sheep or Dwarf Bharal Pseudois schaeferi is an endangered species of caprid found in China Proper and Tibet. It inhabits low, arid, grassy slopes of the upper Yangtze gorge in Batang County of the Sichuan Province, and a small part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, where it is known by the local name Rong-na.

Originally given subspecific status to the Bharal (Pseudois nauyar), morphological research conducted in the 1970s led it to be considered a distinct species. However recent molecular analysis has shown the difference between the two species is slight, and suggests it should be treated as a subspecies of the Bharal.

The Dwarf Blue Sheep differs from the Bharal primarily in size, with adult males weighing around 35kg, half as much as the Bharal. Less sexual dimorphism occurs in this species, and females of the two species are very similar. Its coat is a steely grey with a silvery sheen, with darker general colouration than the Bharal, and the horns of the male are smaller, thinner and more upright, with no inward curl.

In 2000 there were estimated just 200 individuals of Dwarf Blue Sheep alive. The species is hunted, and in their limited range cannot escape from humans and livestock. Although a reserve of 142.4 square km was set up around Zhubalong in 1995, human activities continue to go on there.

Red Wolf

Aggressive predator control programs, hunting and agriculturalization have combined to bring the red wolf near to extinction, because it was thought to be a threat to livestock. It is now considered rare.

It is thought that its original distribution included much of eastern North America, where Red Wolves were found from New York in the east, Florida in the south, and Texas in the south-west. Records of bounty payments to Wappinger Indians in New York in the middle 1700s confirm its range at least that far north; it's possible that it could have extended as far as extreme eastern Canada. There are thought to be about 300 red wolves remaining in the world, with 207 of those in captivity. For decades, the Red Wolf has been indistinguishable genetically from either the Gray Wolf or the Coyote. The Red Wolf breeds with both species and may again be in peril as contact with other species in the wild resumes.

In 1987 approximately 100 were reintroduced into the wild as the first island propagation project in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge off the coast of North Carolina. In 1989 the second island propagation project initiated with release of a population on Horn Island off the Mississippi coast. This population was moved in 1998 because of a likelihood of encounters with humans. The third island propagation project introduced a population on St. Vincent Island, Florida offshore between Cape San Blas and Apalachicola, Florida in 1990, and in 1997 the fourth island propagation program introduced a population to Cape St. George Island, Florida south of Apalachicola, Florida. In 1991 two pairs were reintroduced into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the last known wolf was killed in 1905. Despite some early success, the wolves were relocated to North Carolina in 1998, ending the effort to reintroduce the species to the Park. Historical habitats included forests, swamps and coastal prairies, where it was an apex predator.

Red Wolf

The Red Wolf (Canis rufus) is a North American canid and once roamed throughout the Southeastern United States and is a glacial period survivor of the Late Pleistocene epoch. Its natural range extends from Texas to Florida. A population is being reintroduced to North Carolina.Scientists suggest that Red Wolf populations were extirpated from the wild and are now highly endangered.

Origin

The origins of the Red Wolf line are set at 1-2 Ma with a branching from a common ancestor, also known as the Canis rufus, which appeared about 4.9 Ma. The current Red Wolf shared this ancestor with the Gray Wolf, the Eastern Wolf, and the Coyote. One branch remained in North America, while other branch migrated to Eurasia, giving rise to the Gray Wolf. Between 150,000—300,000 years ago, the North American branch evolved into the eastern wolf and the Coyote. Wilson et al. (2000) concluded that the Eastern Wolf and Red Wolf should be considered as sister taxa and recognized as distinct species from other North American canids. However, these conclusions have been widely disputed (for example see Koblmuller et al. (2009) ), and the canonical listing of mammal species lists them both as subspecies of the Gray Wolf.

Iberian Lynx

While the Eurasian Lynx bears rather pallid markings, the Iberian lynx has distinctive, leopard-like spots with a coat that is often light grey or various shades of light brownish-yellow. Some western populations were spotless, although these have recently become extinct.

The head and body length is 85–110 cm, with the short tail an additional 12–30 cm; the shoulder height is 60–70 cm. The male is larger than the female, with the average weight of males 12.9 kg and a maximum of 26.8 kg, compared to 9.4 kg for females; this about half the size of the Eurasian lynx.

The Iberian Lynx has four sets of whiskers: two groups on the ears and two on the chin. It uses these to sense its prey.

Iberian Lynx

The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), sometimes referred to as the Spanish lynx, is a critically endangered species native to the Iberian Peninsula in Southern Europe. It is the most endangered cat species in the world.According to the conservation group SOS Lynx, if this species died out, it would be the first feline extinction since the Smilodon 10,000 years ago.The species used to be classified as a subspecies of the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx), but is now considered a separate species. Both species occurred together in central Europe in the Pleistocene epoch, being separated by habitat choice. The Iberian lynx is believed to have evolved from Lynx issiodorensis.

Tamaraw (Dwarf Water Buffalo)

The Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) or Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo is a small hoofed mammal belonging to the family Bovidae. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro in the Philippines and is the only endemic Philippine bovine. It is believed, however, to have once also thrived on the greater island of Luzon. The tamaraw was originally found all over Mindoro, from sea level up to the mountains (2000 meters above sea level), but because of human habitation, hunting, and logging, it is now restricted to only a few remote grassy plains and is now an endangered species.

Contrary to common belief and past classification, the tamaraw is not a subspecies of the local carabao, which is only slightly larger, or the common water buffalo. In contrast to the carabao, it has a number of distinguishing characteristics: it is slightly hairier, has light markings on its face, is not gregarious, and has shorter horns that are somewhat V-shaped. It is the largest native terrestrial mammal in the country.

Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat

The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii), also known as the Yaminon, is one of three species of wombats. It was found across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland as recently as 100 years ago, but is now restricted to a 3 km² range within the 32 km² Epping Forest National Park in Queensland. It is one of the rarest large mammals in the world and is critically endangered. It is slightly larger than the Common Wombat and able to breed somewhat faster (two young every three years). Its habitat has become infested with African buffel grass, which out-competes the native grasses the Yaminon prefers to feed on. A two metre-high predator-proof fence was constructed around 25 km² of the park in 2000, but captive breeding and translocation programs have been abandoned for the time being because the population in the sole remaining Yaminon colony is considered too small to allow the safe removal of the 15 or 20 individuals needed to start a new wild colony, and because more than a decade of captive breeding research with Common and Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats has produced only a handful of successful births.

The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is listed as "endangered" by the Australian Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT), and "critically endangered" by the IUCN.