Media contributions
2Media contributions
Title Climate change is putting even resilient and adaptable animals like baboons at risk Degree of recognition International Media name/outlet The Conversation UK Media type Web Country/Territory United Kingdom Date 16/05/19 Description Baboons are large, smart, ground-dwelling monkeys. They are found across sub-Saharan Africa in various habitats and eat a flexible diet including meat, eggs, and plants. And they are known opportunists – in addition to raiding crops and garbage, some even mug tourists for their possessions, especially food.
We might be tempted to assume that this ecological flexibility (we might even call it resilience) will help baboons survive on our changing planet. Indeed, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which assesses extinction risk, labels five of six baboon species as “of Least Concern”. This suggests that expert assessors agree: the baboons, at least relatively speaking, are at low risk.
Unfortunately, my recent research suggests this isn’t the whole story. Even this supposedly resilient species may be at significant risk of extinction by 2070.URL https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-putting-even-resilient-and-adaptable-animals-like-baboons-at-risk-115588 Persons Isabelle Winder Title Flexible and omnipresent baboons could be at risk Degree of recognition International Media name/outlet Bangor University Press Office Media type Web Country/Territory United Kingdom Date 16/05/19 Description Despite being so commonplace in some regions of Sub-Saharan Africa that baboons can be considered pests to some communities, new research shows that half the six species of baboons present in the region could be at risk by mid-century.
A recent paper in the Journal of Biogeography reveals that baboons, most of which are in the ‘of Least Concern’ category on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, could struggle for survival under future climate conditions.
The risk to their survival comes only from considering the effects of human-induced climate change. If such large, flexible primates can be at risk in such a short time-frame, should conservationists be rethinking how they classify risk categories to include climate effects which have already been set in action?URL https://www.bangor.ac.uk/news/archive/flexible-and-omnipresent-baboons-could-be-at-risk-40716 Persons Isabelle Winder
Keywords
- Climate change
- Baboons
- Conservation
- Risk
- Exinction