IUCN: Med species in danger of extinction

Throughout the world, 100 unique species of animals, plants and mushrooms in 48 countries are at risk of extinction, according to an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) report released on Tuesday. Of these 100 species, several are in Greece and Turkey, according to the report, which was put together by 8,000 scientists. These include the Callitriche pulchra, a freshwater plant that grows solely on the Greek island of Gavdos, and the Valencia letourneuxi, a freshwater fish that also lives in Greece. Turkey risks losing the Psorodontus ebneri, a woodland cricket, and the Lathyrus belinensis, a flowering plant, explained London Zoological Society Officer Ellen Butcher, who co-authored the IUCN report. "Each of these endangered species is unique and irreplaceable", Butcher said. "Once they disappear, no amount of money will bring them back. We could still give them a chance of survival, if we intervene right now. But that would require the whole of society to take the moral and ethical stance that all species intrinsically have a right to live".