For mammals, nowhere to run

USA TODAY, October, 2008 by Dan Vergano

Many animals worldwide, from toads to tigers, face extinction, a "terrifying possibility" underlined by the release Monday of a report on mammals.

The report due Friday in the journal Science says that of the world's 5,487 mammal species, at least one in four land species and one in three marine species face extinction in the foreseeable future.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) predicted earlier that one in eight bird, one in three amphibian and one in three coral-reef species are endangered.

"Extinction is normal and natural, but what we are facing is a very rapid, accelerating rate of extinction happening right now that is very unnatural," says IUCN biologist Michael Hoffmann. The mammal report comes as the IUCN -- the world's largest organization of environmental groups, with 11,000 scientist members from 160 nations -- opened its yearly meeting in Barcelona. "Our results paint ...