2018 turned out to be 'fatal' for island birds, rhinos and bustards next in queue

The year gone by was yet another testament to the rapid decline of wildlife in a world that constantly faces the growing challenges of climate change, large-scale deforestation and anthropogenic pressures. Conservation groups, such as Birdlife International, said in its study that three bird species went extinct in 2018. Of the three, two species — Cryptic Treehunter and Alagoas Foliage-gleaner — were songbirds native to Brazil, while the third species was an insect-eating forest-bird, Po'ouli, endemic to Hawaii.

Besides these three species, 2018 also saw the extinction in wild of Spix's Macaw, the attractive blue-coloured bird which gained popularity due to the 2011 animated film Rio based on the bird. Ironically, a few of them are still found in captivity.

"Ninety per cent of bird extinctions in recent centuries have been species of islands. However, our results confirm that there is a growing wave of extinctions sweeping across the continents, driven mainly by habitat loss and degradation from unsustainable agriculture and logging," said Dr Stuart Butchart, Birdlife's Chief Scientist and lead author of the study, according to Birdlife International.

The world also saw some major species such as giraffes, rhinos and pygmy owls are coming close to extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature declared Kordofan and Nubaian subspecies of giraffes as critically endangered whereas the last male northern white rhino died in Kenya last March and only two females are survive in the wild.

In the US, the red wolves species, too, is facing a battle of survival. Only 40 of the endangered wolves remain in the wild. Closer home, the Great Indian Bustard is facing a grim future as only up to 200 currently survive in the states.