{"id":1761,"date":"2016-03-04T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/aboutus\/1761\/5-species-bouncing-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/"},"modified":"2019-11-23T22:43:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T06:43:31","slug":"5-species-bouncing-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/blog\/1761\/5-species-bouncing-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/","title":{"rendered":"5 species bouncing back from the brink of extinction"},"content":{"rendered":"
Our planet is incredible and so are the creatures that inhabit it. Sadly, their homes are under threat. Every two seconds, an area of rainforest the size of a football field<\/a> is lost to human destruction. Oceans are filling with plastic<\/a> and everyday, illegal trade and poaching<\/a> are threatening to wipe entire species off the face of the planet.Last year, the UN declared March 3, World Wildlife Day: a day to celebrate the stunning wildlife with which we share our planet and call to attention their struggle for survival.<\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019re celebrating 5 amazing species who are pulling back from the brink of extinction.<\/p>\n

1. The Ili Pika, spotted for the first time in 20 years<\/strong><\/p>\n

The almost impossibly cute Ili Pika is so rare that it was believed extinct for over 20 years before it reappeared<\/a> \u00a0in March 2015.<\/p>\n

The \u2018magic rabbit\u2019 was discovered by accident in 1983 by conservationist Li Weidong in Northwest China\u2019s Xinjiang region and has been spotted only a handful of times since then. The last glimpse of the tiny creature with the teddy bear face was caught in 1990, leading to fears that it had been lost forever.<\/p>\n

The re-emergence of the rare mammal has given hope to Li Weidong and other conservationists. But climate change and an expanding human population at the foot of the mountain means that the Ili Pika is still under threat. Li is now fighting for official conservation status for the Ili Pika.<\/p>\n

2. Record number of manatees off the Florida Coast<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Conservation efforts for the manatees are being held up as a global success story. A record number were counted off the Florida coast this month. The slow moving sea creatures are in fact distant relatives of the landlubbing elephant. Among the first species to be classified as endangered <\/span>in 1973<\/a>, their population has leapt up from only 1,267 in 1991 to over 6,000 today.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3. China\u2019s Wild Panda Population are up 17%!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Credit:\u00a0Fuse\/Thinkstock<\/em>
\nWild populations of the Giant Panda, the rarest bear on the planet, saw an unprecedented leap of almost 17% in the past decade, according to China\u2019s 2015 National Survey of Giant Pandas. This is amazing progress, especially given that it\u2019s notoriously difficult for pandas to breed.
\nTheir population growth is the result of decades of concerted effort, including establishing nature reserves and safe habitats for the pandas in its native Sichuan Province, in southwest China. Finally starting to pay off.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the Giant Panda is still facing serious threat from habitat fragmentation. Find out more about our work fighting illegal logging in the Giant Panda\u2019s habitat here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4. The Amur Leopard population doubled in 2015<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The beautiful and elusive Amur leopard has made remarkable progress, more than doubling<\/a> its population in just seven years. The world\u2019s rarest cat, the Amur leopard roams the broad expanses of forest and mountain in northeastern China and eastern Russia. Since a national park was established to protect their habitat in 2012, their population has grown from only 30 to 57.<\/p>\n

5. Yunnan golden monkey\u2019s population has tripled in some areas<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Sometimes referred to as \u2018the wild men of the mountains\u2019, these rare primates live at altitudes of 4000m and higher in the mountains of southwestern China\u2019s Yunnan province. With a small population of only around 3000 and living in such remote locations, many suspected that the Yunnan Golden Monkey was extinct until the 1960s, when researchers found skeletons of the monkey on sale in the province.<\/p>\n

Inhabiting only areas of pristine mountain forest, the monkeys are extremely vulnerable to deforestation. However, numerous projects to protect the high altitude forests of Yunnan have helped the Yunnan Golden Monkey to make a comeback. Some localities have seen their population triple<\/a> since the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of species across the world face threats to their existence. But if there is one thing the above five unique animals show, it\u2019s that conservation works! It can be a lot of work, but protecting animal habitats can help these special creatures we share the world with to survive and thrive.<\/p>\n

We can all play a part in helping these animals. We can support ocean sanctuaries<\/a>, call for an end to deforestation<\/a> and act against<\/a> habitat threatening climate change. All these small acts help bring about change, and help create a world flourishing in spectacular wildlife.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our planet is incredible and so are the creatures that inhabit it. Sadly, their homes are under threat. Every two seconds, an area of rainforest the size of a football field is lost to human destruction. Oceans are filling with plastic and everyday, illegal trade and poaching are threatening to wipe entire species off the face of the planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":1762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19],"p4-page-type":[26],"class_list":["post-1761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protect-nature","tag-forests","p4-page-type-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1761"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2566,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1761\/revisions\/2566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1761"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}