Threatened Animal Update: The Good, the Bad and, Well, There’s a Lot of Bad

With about 1.7 million described species on the planet and about 20,000 new species discovered each year, it's nearly impossible to keep up with how all our fellow Earth-dwellers are faring. But that's exactly what the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been doing since 1963. Since then, the IUCN has assessed the conservation status of around 70,923 species, including virtually all known mammals and birds and a healthy dose of amphibians. 

Now the IUCN has just released its latest update on their well-known Red List, and as might be expected, the results range from hopeful to downright scary. 

Let's start with the good news. Despite the threats posed to amphibians by a changing climate and the deadly Chytrid fungus, the discovery of several new subpopulations of Costa Rica's Brook Frog and Green-eyed Frog are giving scientists hope that these frogs aren't on their way out after all.

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