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The Philippines are home to hundreds of animal species unique to these islands. But there is another reason to study biological diversity here. When conservation biologists list the countries with the largest number of species threatened with extinction, the Philippines ranks among the top ten.
And when you consider the relative size of these countries, the Philippines often rises to the very top of the list. Currently, 51 mammal species that are endemic to the Philippines—a country about the size of the state of New Mexico—are on the list of most threatened species. By comparison, in Australia, which is more than 25 times the size of the Philippines, 64 mammal species are endangered.
The causes of endangerment are complex, but some of the primary reasons have to do with:
- A very dense population of humans (over 90 million citizens), many of whom are subsistence farmers,
- Extremely poor management of logging and agricultural practices, and
- Extensive mining of steep mountain slopes.
The overall result has been that the Philippines, once clothed in rainforests over at least 95% of its land surface, now has only about 8% of the original rainforest remaining, with perhaps another 12-15% covered by second-growth forest. This places the Philippines near or at the top of another list—that of the most severely deforested tropical countries in the world.
Continue to The Philippine Mammal Project.
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