What do the following have in common?
Talaud rail
Bartel's rat
Bali starling
Enggano rat
Bawean deer
Banggai crow
Siau scops-owl
Elegant sunbird
Javan rhinoceros
Flores scops-owl
Red-and-blue lory
Celebes shrew rat
Sangihe white-eye
Long-headed hill rat
Taliabu masked-owl
Sipora flying squirrel
Sumatra water shrew
Sunda long-eared bat
Sangihe shrike-thrush
White-tipped monarch
Black-chinned monarch
Sumatran flying squirrel
Lompobatang flycatcher
Lesser small-toothed rat
Javan thick-thumbed bat
Rufous-throated white-eye
White-toothed brushmouse
Caerulean paradise-flycatcher
Roti Island snake-necked turtle
Answer:
They're all uncommon, nay endangered, species native to Indonesia.
Nearly three times as many endangered species are on the brink of extinction than have died out in the past 500 years, according to a world map of the most threatened habitats. An international alliance of conservation scientists spent three years building the map, by locating the last remaining sites where species labelled endangered or critically endangered are known to be clinging to existence.
The researchers identified 794 species, including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and varieties of tree, in habitats so disrupted - usually by human development - that they are now confined to just one region. In total, 595 regions were found to be home to at least one threatened species. Only a third of the sites are legally protected and nearly all are surrounded by intense human activity: logging, forest clearance or home building.
News source: The Guardian
Presumably the recently discovered Bornean red carnivore can now be added to the list.
The animal, which has very small ears and large hind legs, was spotted in the Kayan Mentarang national park in the mountainous jungles of Kalimantan, where vast tracts of rainforest still remain.WWF warned that plans to create the world's largest palm oil plantation in Kalimantan, along the border with Malaysia's Sarawak and Sabah states, threatened further new discoveries. The scheme, funded by the China Development Bank, is expected to cover an area of 1.8 million hectares.
Environmental watchdogs have criticised the plan, arguing that the jungle soil in the area is infertile and that the elevation is unsuitable for palm oil.
Indonesia is losing at least 2.8 million hectares of its forests every year to illegal logging alone.
The Forestry Ministry's director for protected areas, Banjar Laban, said the potential discovery of a new mammal emphasised the urgent need to protect the biodiversity of Borneo's forests.
In the protected Kayan Mentarang forest, 361 new species - plants, insects, fish and other animals - were discovered between 1994 and 2004, he said.
"If it turns out to be truly a new mammalian species, this should really become a national pride, something that the entire nation should be proud of and work to preserve."
Indeed.
