Species of the Day: Huemul
© Jo Anne Smith-Flueck & Werner Flueck, http://deerlab.org
Species of the Day: Huemul The Huemul, Hippocamelus bisulcus, is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. Once widespread across the southern Andes and Patagonia, this deer now has a much more restricted range within southern Argentina and Chile.
Geographical range
www.iucnredlist.org www.iibce/deer Help Save Species www.arkive.org
The Huemul’s decline has been attributed to a range of factors, including overhunting, overstocking of its habitat with domestic livestock, land conversion to agriculture, and, more locally, threats such as construction, logging, poaching and disease. Suitable winter habitat has been almost entirely eliminated, and illegal hunting continues in many areas. The remaining subpopulations are small and fragmented, and the species may now total fewer than 1,500 individuals. Although now fully protected in Chile and Argentina, most of the Huemul population occurs outside of protected areas, and laws are often poorly enforced even within reserves.Urgent conservation measures include raising awareness of its plight, promoting the creation of private protected areas, removing livestock in national parks, and captive breeding. The 7th International Deer Biology Congress is to be held in Chile, 1-6 August, 2010. Species of the Day is sponsored by
The production of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is made possible through the IUCN Red List Partnership: IUCN (including the Species Survival Commission), BirdLife International, Conservation International, NatureServe and Zoological Society of London.
Species of the Day: Huemul The Huemul, Hippocamelus bisulcus, is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. Once widespread across the southern Andes and Patagonia, this deer now has a much more restricted range within southern Argentina and Chile.
Geographical range
www.iucnredlist.org www.iibce/deer Help Save Species www.arkive.org
The Huemul’s decline has been attributed to a range of factors, including overhunting, overstocking of its habitat with domestic livestock, land conversion to agriculture, and, more locally, threats such as construction, logging, poaching and disease. Suitable winter habitat has been almost entirely eliminated, and illegal hunting continues in many areas. The remaining subpopulations are small and fragmented, and the species may now total fewer than 1,500 individuals. Although now fully protected in Chile and Argentina, most of the Huemul population occurs outside of protected areas, and laws are often poorly enforced even within reserves.Urgent conservation measures include raising awareness of its plight, promoting the creation of private protected areas, removing livestock in national parks, and captive breeding. The 7th International Deer Biology Congress is to be held in Chile, 1-6 August, 2010. Species of the Day is sponsored by
The production of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is made possible through the IUCN Red List Partnership: IUCN (including the Species Survival Commission), BirdLife International, Conservation International, NatureServe and Zoological Society of London.
