Animals of the Red Book Does not need urgent special protection measures. Protected in the Daursky nature reserve. The preservation of the species will be facilitated by the measures necessary to maintain the general natural balance in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Transbaikalia. The most specific of them are: expansion of the network of specially protected territories; reducing the number and scale of artificial forest and steppe fires; introduction of environmentally friendly methods of agricultural harvesting; a ban on the large-scale use of insecticides and poisons used to destroy carriers of especially dangerous infections and rodents, agricultural pests; restriction of free keeping of dogs




Red Book Animals Included in the IUCN-96 Red List. In Russia, a mining ban was introduced in 1920 and lasted with a short break until 1946, when licensed mining was allowed, in 1956 a 5-year ban was reintroduced; the final ban on the extraction of muskrat was established after the species was listed in the Red Book of the USSR. It is protected in the Voronezh, Khopersky, Mordovian, Oksky, Kerzhensky, Voronensky reserves, as well as in a larger number of reserves (about 80), where more than 25% of the total desman population lives. It is kept in the vivarium of the Khopersky Reserve, but does not breed.








Animals of the Red Book Listed on the IUCN-96 Red List. Harvesting of polar bears in the Russian Arctic has been prohibited since 1956. In 1973, the Arctic countries signed the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which, after its ratification and entry into force (1976), became the international legal basis for the protection, study and use of the species. The conservation of polar bear populations in the Russian Arctic was facilitated by the organization of a special protection regime in places of concentration of ancestral lairs (Wrangel and Herald Islands and Franz Josef Land).












Animals of the Red Book Listed in the IUCN-96 Red List, Appendix 1 of CITES. It is protected in the Sayano-Shushensky and Altai reserves. The Sayano-Shushensky Reserve is the main reserve for the conservation of the snow leopard in Russia and the second most important in the Mongolian-Siberian part of the range (after the Great Gobi Reserve)
Animals of the Red Book Listed in the IUCN-96 Red List, Appendix 1 of CITES. Leopard hunting has been banned since 1956, and in 1966 a ban on catching live animals was introduced. Within the range of the Persian leopard in Russia, there are some reserves of the Caucasus. It is necessary to create an alpine reserve on the Bogossky Ridge. or the Dyultydag mountain range. The Far Eastern leopard is protected in the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve
Animals of the Red Book Listed in the IUCN-96 Red List, Appendix 1 of CITES. The ban on tiger hunting has been in force since 1947. In 1955, the capture of cubs was banned and then severely restricted. Tigers are protected in reserves, among which Sikhote-Alin and Lazovsky are the main tiger reserves. The "Strategy for the Conservation of the Amur Tiger in Russia" was developed and published in 1996, containing a detailed rationale for the system of measures for its protection. Amur tigers are kept and breed well in many zoos around the world. As of December 31, 1993, there were 604 tigers in them.

Kingdom: animals (Animalia). Type: chordates (Chordata). Class: mammals (Mammalia). Order: bats (Chiroptera). Family: horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae). Genus: horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus). Species: small horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros).

Why is it listed in the Red Book

Despite the fact that the small horseshoe bat is found in a large area, its numbers are declining. Therefore, it has a third protection category - a rare and vulnerable species.

Security: Listed in IUCN-96 Red List. Due to the sporadic distribution on the territory of Russia, the threat of direct destruction of the small horseshoe bat is small, however, if large colonies are found, it is necessary to organize their protection and carry out explanatory work among the population.

How to find out

All horseshoe bats got their name because of the skin-cartilaginous outgrowths around the nostrils, which resemble a horseshoe. Interestingly, these "horseshoes" are not just a fancy decoration, but a complex apparatus for generating echolocation signals. The length of the small horseshoe bat is about 45 mm, the coat color is grayish-brown on the back and whitish on the abdomen. They seem to be wearing light-colored vests.

Spreading:

In Russia, distributed in Ciscaucasia and the North. Caucasus from the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Territory to Dagestan. Known from few finds. Outside of Russia, the range covers Europe from Ireland to Moldova and southern Ukraine, the Mediterranean, North. Africa, Western and Central Asia, reaching Kashmir and north-west. Himalayas.

Lifestyle and biology

Habitat: Inhabits both the foothills and the middle belt of mountains up to a height of 2000 m above sea level, as well as plain regions with a strongly rugged relief, with varying degrees of desertification and the presence of karst caves. It can develop anthropogenic landscapes in the presence of suitable shelters.

Inhabits natural and artificial dungeons, rock cracks, etc., in the anthropogenic landscape - human buildings. In summer, it forms small brood colonies in these shelters (several dozen individuals each). There is usually one cub in a litter; childbirth occurs in late June-early July, the duration of lactation is 4-5 weeks.

Most individuals reach sexual maturity in their second year of life, although a small percentage of females in the population do not breed. The ratio of sexes of newborns is 1:1; among adults, the proportion of males is higher, which is apparently caused by different biotopic confinement of the sexes.

They do not make long-distance seasonal migrations. The average life expectancy is less than 3 years, the maximum is about 18 years. These animals sleep, like all bats, in limbo, catching their claws on some kind of base and hanging upside down. Animals hibernate in winter

Approximately 20 minutes after sunset, "night snipers" fly out in search of suitable food. Who will be the victim? Nocturnal insects and spiders. Small horseshoe bats can make 16-18 wing beats per second, which allows them to quickly overtake prey.

Number:

The population density of the little horseshoe bat in Russia has been estimated at about 2-5 individuals/km2 of habitable area, based on its abundance, relative to other bat species. These data are several times higher than the estimates of its density for a number of places in Central Europe.

When calculating the area potentially available for the habitation of the small horseshoe bat, its number in Russia was estimated at 80-100 thousand individuals. However, given the sporadic occurrence of this species and the poor knowledge of its population in Russia, these figures can hardly be considered reliable.

Less than other species of the genus, the lesser horseshoe bat is at risk of direct extermination due to the low density of accommodation in shelters. Apparently, the greatest danger for the small horseshoe bat is indirect anthropogenic impact, however, specific mechanisms of its influence on the state of populations of this species have not been identified.

At the beginning of 2010, two commemorative coins with the image of a small horseshoe bat were issued in Poland in denominations of 2 and 20 zlotys. The first shows two horseshoe bats hovering over the setting sun, the second shows horseshoe bats in flight. In Western countries, bats have the most unpleasant associations associated with night terrors and vampires. By the way, there is a scientific explanation for this. Lesser horseshoe bats have been found to be similar to vampire bats that can suck the blood of other warm-blooded animals. And in the countries of the East, for example in China, they have long been loved, respected and considered a symbol of happiness. No wonder the Chinese "fu" means both happiness and a bat. The limbs of bats are completely unsuitable for walking; these animals will not even be able to stand upright. Therefore, the position in which the animals hang upside down is best suited for their rest. (Skaldina O.V. Big Red Book)

Sources:. 1. Kazakov and Yarmysh, 1974; 2. Amirkhanov, 1980; 3. Duvarova, 1980; 4. Yarmysh et al., 1980a; 6. Strelkov, 1963; 7. Gaisler, 1969; 8. Panyutin, 1980; 9. Bezem et al., 1960; 10. Panyutin, 1985 Compiled by: K.K. Panyutin, A.V. Borisenko

Skaldina O. V. Big Red Book / Oksana Skaldina - M .: Eksmo, 2014. - 480 p.: ill. - (Red Book).

Image: "Bat(20070605)" by Lylambda ( [email protected]) - own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 from Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bat(20070605).jpg

Introduction.

International environmental organizations play a huge role at this stage in the development of society. Their creation was caused by catastrophic changes in the environment, they were called upon to protect nature and, in essence, should save, first of all, the person himself.

I believe that with the help of all these international environmental organizations, a person primarily protects himself from the results of his own activities. After all, loud statements that a global catastrophe is approaching and that if we do not take measures to save the environment, then life on the planet will perish, to put it mildly, does not correspond to reality. No matter what happens, life on the planet will not perish. After all, our Earth for 5 billion years of its existence experienced not such catastrophes. And even if a nuclear war happens now, then Life, even in the form of bacteria and spores, will still be preserved. And in hundreds of millions of years it will again be reborn in no less diversity than it is now.

But people don't see it...

Thus, if we want to survive, then first of all we must take care of the world around us, and we can only do this together. And the first steps in this direction are the activities of various international environmental organizations.

Now in the world there are a huge number of different organizations, associations, forums that set themselves the goal of protecting nature. However, oddly enough, we often do not even know what this or that organization does, and many have never even heard of most of them. In this paper, I will consider one of the oldest, and most effectively working of all existing environmental organizations - IUCN– International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Brief description of the organization.

IUCN - The World Conservation Union, European Program, Office for CIS, founded in 1948 on the initiative of UNESCO, is the world's oldest and largest independent, international, non-profit organization. Publishes the Red Book, serial issues, for example: "List of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves". The supreme body is the General Assembly. Since 1979, the official program document of the IUCN is the World Conservation Strategy (developed in 1978). Has consultative status with UNESCO, ECOSOC, FAO. The Union unites 78 sovereign states, 112 government agencies, 735 non-governmental organizations, 35 associate members and approximately 12 thousand scientists and experts from 181 countries of the world.

IUCN Mission:

Leading and assisting the global environmental movement to uphold the integrity and conservation of wildlife diversity and ensure that human use of natural resources is sustainable and prudent.

In accordance with the mission, IUCN is ready for constructive cooperation with any organization that is committed to the conservation of nature and natural resources. Our main goal is to improve environmental performance, regardless of the satisfaction of political and social ambitions.
IUCN has observer status with the UN General Assembly and maintains close working relationships with many intergovernmental organizations and programs, especially UNESCO, FAO, UNDP and UNEP.

IUCN Goals:

Dealing with the extinction crisis:

Species extinction crisis and enormous loss of biodiversity are perceived as a universal concern and responsibility, leading to actions to reduce the loss of intraspecific, interspecific and ecosystem biodiversity

Maintaining the integrity of ecosystems:

Maintaining and restoring, as needed, ecosystems, and ensuring that natural resources are used in a sustainable and prudent manner

Through international conventions, IUCN has assisted more than 75 countries in the preparation and implementation of national environmental strategies and action plans. The IUCN Secretariat employs about 1,000 staff, most of whom are located in 60 regional and country offices located in 42 countries around the world. About 100 people work worldwide at the IUCN headquarters located in Gland, Switzerland.
Since its inception, IUCN has been committed to facilitating collaborative efforts and promoting the use of scientific knowledge in environmental decision making. IUCN's work ranges from endangered species conservation, protected areas and ecosystem management to environmental law and social policy. IUCN strives to ensure that decision-making in environmental activities is based strictly on a scientific basis, using the latest scientific developments.

The main directions of scientific research.

IUCN - the International Union for the Conservation of Nature - seeks to use the full potential of the world's science and practice of the environmental movement to conserve biological diversity and maintain the sustainable use of forest resources.

The IUCN Global Forest Program coordinates and guides the efforts of the Secretariat and members of IUCN to conserve forests. Forest conservation includes the protection, restoration and use of forest resources so that forests provide a wide range of potential goods and services.

The program promotes relevant policy implementation at various levels and uses the results of field research to draw lessons that could later be used to inform policy decisions. The principles set out in the brochure "Caring for the Earth. A strategy for sustainable living", published in 1991. jointly with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), are applied to specific projects that combine both environmental conservation needs and the needs of the local population.

One of the main areas of work is the development of a coherent and informed forest conservation policy to translate political decisions into effective actions. IUCN often advises major forest organizations to ensure that forest conservation priorities are incorporated into their projects and programs. The Forest Conservation Program receives financial support from the governments of the Netherlands, Canada, and the USA.

To improve the financing and implementation of environmental projects in Russia and other CIS countries within the framework of the European Regional Program, by decision of the Director General of IUCN, in 1994, the Moscow Office for the CIS countries was opened in Moscow, and in 1999 - the IUCN Representative Office for the CIS countries.

The priority areas of work of the Representative Office for the next five years are:

  • conservation of forest biodiversity and rational use of forests;
  • creation of an ecological network of Northern Eurasia;
  • conservation of rare and endangered species;
  • development of sustainable agricultural practices;
  • Arctic program.

Creation of the Red Book.

Since 1966, the IUCN Species Survival Commission, in cooperation with other conservation organizations, has been publishing issues of the International Red Book dedicated to various systematic groups of animals of the world or regional fauna (Fish, Amphibians and Reptiles, Birds, Mammals of America and Australasia, Invertebrates, Swallowtail Butterflies and etc.).

Of great importance were the publications of IUCN in 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1996. Red lists of endangered animals ( IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals), as well as the Red List of Threatened Species ( 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species). The International Red List of IUCN is a periodically updated global catalog of species, subspecies and populations of animals, distributed on lists-categories of the threat of extinction, indicating the main criteria for assessing their condition. An analysis of the process of impoverishment of the world fauna, given in the international Red List (2000), shows that over the past four centuries, 83 species of mammals, 128 birds, 21 reptiles, 5 amphibians, 81 fish, 291 mollusks have completely disappeared from the face of the planet, 8 crustaceans, 72 insects, 3 onychophorans, and 1 turbellarian. In addition, 33 species of animals (mainly fish and shellfish) have disappeared in the wild and have survived only in cultivation. This destructive process began to manifest itself with the greatest force at the end of the last century and is still ongoing. 1130 species of mammals, 1183 birds, 296 reptiles, 146 amphibians, 751 fish, 938 molluscs, 408 crustaceans, 10 arachnids, 555 insects, and about 20 other invertebrate species are endangered. The release of the first issues of the International Red Book gave a powerful impetus to the creation of national and regional Red Books and lists. Now many states of Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the USA, South America, South Africa, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, etc. have such publications.

The aim of the system is to introduce a clear and objective basis for classifying species according to their degree of risk of extinction.

1) identification of taxonomic groups with a high risk of extinction (at the national, regional and global levels);

2) assistance in setting priorities and forming a security policy at the level of local regions, countries and in the world;

3) formation of an objective long-term basis for comparing future statuses of global biodiversity.

The Red List is a list of endangered species compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, showing an accurate picture of the state of species.

1. Black rhinoceros. 25% of the species is endangered. The West African black rhinoceros is officially declared extinct. The black West African rhinoceros was completely poached a few years ago.

2. The white rhinoceros, or as it is also called, the northern white rhinoceros, is listed as an endangered species in the wild. The white rhino population in Africa is on the verge of extinction. The last Javan rhinoceros was killed by poachers in 2010. Now only a tiny population of these animals remains in the world.

3. Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii). The number of this species has moved from the category of endangered species to the category of endangered species. After 1996, when the horse was listed as an endangered species, thanks to successful programs of artificial breeding and reintroduction (returning to the wild), the number of the species has increased, and today it is more than 300 individuals.

4. Tarzan's chameleon. A significant part of the biosphere, especially on islands and in arid regions, consists of reptiles. According to the IUCN Red List, 40% of the land reptiles of the island of Madagascar are endangered, 22 species are critically endangered. Among them are chameleons, geckos, skinks and snakes. The problem of conservation of these species is dealt with by scientists who help plan conservation activities and create new protected areas. Scientists predict that these areas will help preserve a significant part of endangered species, such as the Tarzan chameleon, the bizarre-nosed chameleon and the legless skink.

5. Chinese water spruce. This species is rapidly dying out in the wild due to habitat reduction due to intensive agriculture in China. Despite the fact that plants are a vital resource for human health and wildlife, they are still underrepresented in conservation lists. The IUCN Red List lists the Chinese water spruce as an endangered species.

6. Seychelles begonia (Begonia seychellensis). 77% of the 79 flower species of the Seychelles are on the verge of extinction. Most tropical species are at risk.

7. Sea coconut (Coco der Mer). This plant, which is credited with aphrodisiac properties, has moved from the list of vulnerable species to the list of endangered ones. One of the reasons for the extinction of the species is the unauthorized collection of fruits, their sale in the shadow market. Fires also significantly reduce the population of the species.

8. Giant manta ray. Recent studies have proven the existence of two species of these rays: the reef manta ray and the giant manta ray. Today, both species are in the vulnerable group. The reason for the extinction of the species is its high value in international trade markets. Stingray gills are used in traditional Chinese medicine. The giant manta ray is the largest of the rays, with a fin span of over seven meters. According to scientists, only the control and regulation of stingray sales will allow saving this species in nature.

9. Atlantic bluefin tuna. 5 out of 8 species of tuna fell into the category of endangered species. Endangered species include southern tuna, Atlantic tuna, bulleye, yellowfin and albacore tuna. Many species have a high economic value, so the government needs to make a decision regarding the protection of this species.

10. Frog Ranitomeya benedicta. The role of amphibians in ecosystems and scientific research in the creation of new drugs is invaluable. However, 26 recently discovered amphibian species are on the IUCN Red List. Among them, in the category of vulnerable and poisonous frog Ranitomeya benedicta.

11. Summer poison frog. Due to uncontrolled capture for international trade and the reduction of the habitat, this species is threatened with extinction.

I recently found on my bookshelves a smaller copy of the famous Red Book. This edition did not include a complete list of endangered animals, but the title of the book had an interesting title: "IUCN Red List". What does the last abbreviation mean and what does the Red Book consist of, I decided to find out.

What is the IUCN Red List

Let's start with the fact that "IUCN" can be translated as International Union for Conservation of Nature. In 1948, this union was able to unite and lead the work related to wildlife conservation in many countries of the world. And already in 1949, it was decided to create a commission regarding certain creatures. The main task of the commission was identification of rare species animals (as well as plants) that are on the verge of extinction (as well as the development of measures to protect them).

Thus, the leading goal of the Commission was the formation of a special list of organisms, the number of which critically low. This list is called "Red Book". The fact is that the color red subconsciously symbolizes danger and threat. And so the Red Book, familiar to this day, appeared.


The first edition of this book was published a long time ago. 1963. Then it gradually expanded, supplemented and improved. Changes in the Red Book are being made today.

The Red Book is a document that has permanent action. This can be explained by the endless change of natural conditions and the formation of threats to species. It is worth noting that the efforts made by people still bear fruit. What are they talking about green sheets books.

Separately, it is worth mentioning Red Book of the USSR. It was distinguished by the fact that only those species that lived in the territories of the former Soviet state were entered into it.


Taxa in the Red Book and their species

The Red Book includes taxa(groups) of organisms, which are divided according to the relevant criteria and blocks.

There are two main blocks in total. The first one consists of:

  • taxa in critical condition;
  • taxa under threatened with extinction;
  • and taxa residing in vulnerabilities.

This block warns of species that may disappear in the near future.

The second block includes:

  • taxa whose safety depends on degree of protection;
  • taxa that can move into group of threatened;
  • as well as taxa with minimal risk.

These sections are very helpful when reading the Red Book and facilitate understanding. We all need to remember about the importance of animal and plant conservation on the ground.