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"Despite international efforts to promote biodiversity, a new study has found that hundreds of the world's animal species are in imminent danger of extinction, primarily in tropical mountains and islands in developing nations.
The report, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, concludes that while more than 10% of the Earth's landmass is afforded some environmental protection, efforts are not being focused in places that have the greatest concentration of imperiled species.
The "global gap analysis" conducted by scientists for the group Conservation International studied mammals, amphibians, birds, turtles and tortoises — which together represent just 1% of the planet's species. But that was enough for the scientists to conclude in their report that urgent action is necessary to prevent hundreds of unique species from going extinct.
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Rodrigues cited Mexico as an example of a "mega-diversity" country, with hundreds of species that are not found anywhere else. But she said rare animals in the Sierra Madre mountains in southern Mexico are not protected. More than half of Mexico's threatened amphibians are not protected, according to the study, along with about 30% of the country's threatened mammals. Rodrigues also identified sites in the Andes, on islands in Southeast Asia, on Madagascar and in southern India as areas of high biodiversity and low protection."
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