The aptly named resplendent quetzal is prized for its plumage. Golden poison frogs are popular creatures in the pet trade. Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy, and their scales are used in traditional medicine.
Some species, like fish trawled from the sea in large quantities for food, are abundant. But human activities are helping push many others of these exploited species toward extinction, marine ecologist Boris Worm and colleagues say.
More than half of the vertebrate species that humans exploit — mostly fish and mammals — are killed for food, the team finds. Birds, reptiles and amphibians are primarily targeted for the pet trade. And about 8 percent of exploited species are recreationally hunted for sport or trophies. Other uses include medicine or clothing, and more than a quarter of the species are used for more than one purpose.
Worm, of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and colleagues collated data compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, which tracks the trade, use and vulnerability of species worldwide. The team considered species from the six classes of vertebrates that contain more than 100 species each: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, ray-finned fishes (such as tuna and salmon) and cartilaginous fishes (a group that includes sharks, rays and skates).
2023-06-29 10:00:00
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