Species’ ingenious survival strategies no match for human destruction, red list reveals

AI Summary

Newly endangered species including desert frogs and deep-sea snails face extinction risks largely due to destructive human activities such as deep-sea mining. The red list highlights the threat level to mollusks inhabiting extreme ocean environments.

Newly endangered animals include desert frogs and snails in extreme ocean depths, both threatened by mining Life has colonised every corner of the planet by evolving ingenious survival strategies but these are increasingly being overwhelmed by destructive human activities, this year’s red list of endangered species has revealed. Many snails, limpets and clams have adapted to life at crushing depths in the oceans on hydrothermal vents where water temperatures can reach 450C (842F). But an assessment for the red list found that two-thirds of the hundreds of mollusc species found only on deep sea vents were at risk of extinction because of deep-sea mining. Continue reading...