These Amazon Animals Would Still Go Extinct Even if Deforestation Stopped Tomorrow


The tree ocelot will almost certainly go extinct. Image: Wikimedia commons/CC BY 2.0

Even if deforestation in the Amazon were to miraculously be halted tomorrow, and of course it will not be, a whole legion of creatures that have been scarred by its impacts would go extinct anyway. That’s the finding of a depressing new study that shows how animals who lose their habitats don’t die off immediately, but instead start winding down a multigenerational, often irreversible death spiral.

Live Science explains:

When species lose their natural habitat to deforestation and other causes, they don’t immediately disappear. Instead, they gradually die off over several generations, racking up an “extinction debt” that must eventually be paid in full. New research shows that the Brazilian Amazon has accrued a heavy vertebrate extinction debt, with more than 80 percent of extinctions expected from historical deforestation still impending.

As such, there are a number of animals still living in the Amazon today that will almost certainly perish in coming years, no matter what we do. Here are some of those not expected to survive:

White-cheeked spider monkey


Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

Rio Branco antbird


Arthur Grosset/via

Tree ocelot


[email protected] via Flickr/CC BY 2.0

Hoary-throated spinetail


arthur grosset/via

Brazilian tapir


Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

Yellow-headed poison frog


Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

Sorry, guys.

For more on each, see the Guardian.

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