Not easy eating green: Herbivores most at risk of extinction

摘要

Although scientists often worry most about the loss of the world's predators, a comprehensive new study finds that plant-eating herbivores are the animals most at risk of extinction. About 1 in 4 species of herbivores, 25.5%, are considered threatened, endangered or vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world's scientific authority on extinction risk, according to a study in yesterday's journal Science Advances. By comparison, 17.4% of the predators and 15.8% of omnivores were at risk, said study lead author Trisha Atwood, an ecologist at Utah State University.