The fight to save Australia’s ‘incredibly captivating’ endangered spiny crayfish

Automatisch samengesteld met AI uit de vermelde bronnen

In 2019 only three of Australia’s 52 endemic spiny crayfish species were listed as threatened; the number has since risen to 36, with more expected to join the list. Eight of the listings to critically endangered were supported by WWF-Australia funding. Ecologist Nick Whiterod identifies climate change as the primary threat, raising water temperatures, drying creeks and increasing bushfire vulnerability; the 2019–2020 fires damaged habitat for an estimated 40% of species. The crayfish can live for decades—some perhaps 50 years—and require at least five years to reach reproductive age, while feral pigs, foxes, poaching and canopy loss from land clearing add further pressure.