Red List flags bayawak as endangered species

Wednesday, 04 November 2009 01:07 PM Fidelis Angela Tan

According to the annually-released International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN’s) Red List which lists the conservation status of more than 47,677 types of flora and fauna, 17,291 plant and animal species are at risk of extinction. At threat are more than one in five of all known mammals, over a quarter of reptiles and 70 percent of plants.

Included in this year’s list are the Panay monitor lizard (Varanus mabitang), more popularly known as the ‘bayawak’, which has been categorized as an endangered species, and the Philippine sail-fin water lizard (Hydrosaurus pustulatus), which has been listed as a vulnerable species.

The Panay monitor lizard is “threatened by habitat loss due to agriculture and logging and is hunted by humans for food,” said the IUCN in a statement. The Philippine sail-fin water lizard also suffers habitat loss, as well as people collecting its hatchlings as pets or food.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) submitted the names of both lizards, together with other threatened species endemic to the Philippines, to the IUCN in order to attract international support for their conversation.

“Locally, the Panay monitor lizard and Sail-fin water lizard have already been recognized as critically endangered and threatened, respectively,” said PAWB director Dr. Mundita Lim. “And now they are included in the Red List. We made the submission to gain global recognition and enhance efforts to conserve them as well as their habitats.”

156 of the 300 new lizard species included in this year’s Red List are from the Philippines. Local fauna already included in the list are the Philippine eagle, tamaraw, and Calamian deer.

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