Bison recovering but 31 other species now extinct, finds red list

Three frog and one shark species have vanished, while Amazonian dolphin and oak trees threatenedEurope's biggest land mammal, the European bison, is beginning to recover in numbers thanks to conservation efforts and breeding programmes that have rescued the iconic species from near oblivion, according to an update of the world's threatened species.By the early years of the last century, the once abundant European bison was found only in captivity in a few places, and it was only after the second world war that animals were reintroduced into the wild in small numbers. By 2003, there were still only 1,800 in the wild, but last year this number had more than tripled to a population of more than 6,200, in 47 free ranging herds in Poland, Belarus and Russia. Continue reading...