121 species have been added to the Red List of Threatened Species, a report compiled by the World Conservation Union, bringing the total to 11,167 animals and plants that are known to be at risk of extinction. Among those added to the list is the saiga, a nomadic antelope inhabiting the steppes and semi-arid deserts of central Asia and the Iberian lynx, which scientists warn could be the first wild cat to become extinct in more than 2,000 years. Less than half of the 1990s population of about 1,200 lynx survive, mostly confined to scattered groups in the south-west of Spain and Portugal. To be on the Red List, species must be critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction. The reassessment did provide some good news. A small number of species thought to have disappeared, such as the Lord Howe Island stick insect and Bavarian pine vole and the marbled toadlet, have been rediscovered since 2000.

straight to the source: Steve Connor, The Independent,