More than half of Portugal's bird, animal and fish species face some degree of threat, mostly from human action, according to a government study released on Wednesday.
LISBON — More than half of Portugal's bird, animal and fish species face some degree of threat, mostly from human action, according to a government study released on Wednesday.
The survey of 551 vertebrate species shows that only 46 percent could be considered out of possible danger, Portugal's Institute for the Conservation of Nature said in its report.
"The main factors of threat identified are generally related to the destruction, degradation and fragmentation of natural habitats stemming from the action of man," it said.
Species considered under critical danger include the Iberian lynx, the mountain goat, the monk seal, the black vulture and the saramuga, a freshwater fish found in the Guadiana River basin.
Sixty-nine percent of freshwater and migratory fish species were under threat or nearly threatened, the highest rate of the groups studied.
Factors pressuring species include forest fires, dams, hunting, timber-planting for the pulp and paper industry, abandonment of farmland and draining of wetlands, the study said.
The study updated surveys carried out in the 1990s. It covered continental Portugal and its Azores and Madeira islands.
Source: Reuters
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