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Saving the weird, wonderful

Conservation group targets 100 rare mammals on the edge of extinction.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 17, 2007

LONDON - It isn't often that the northern hairy-nosed wombat, the finger-sized slender loris and the mountain pygmy possum share the spotlight. But these odd creatures are the focus of a conservation program launched Tuesday to safeguard some of Earth's rarest mammals.

The Zoological Society of London's program highlights 100 species selected because of the peculiarity of their genetic backgrounds and the degree of danger they face. The species' lack of close relatives make their preservation particularly urgent, society scientist Jonathan Baillie said. He described them as natural masterpieces.

"Would we just sit there and watch the Mona Lisa disappear?" he said. "These are things that are just irreplaceable."

Many are the only representative of groups that have otherwise died out. West Africa's pygmy hippopotamus, known for its thick, oily "blood-sweat," is the only member of its genus.

Others, like the Yangtze River dolphin, are thought to represent an entire genetic family. The dolphin may already be gone, like some others on the list.

Those that remain act as living fossils, offering glimpses into the animal world of millions of years ago. That's the case of the Andean mountain monkey, the only marsupial in an otherwise extinct lineage that dates back more than 40-million years. New Guinea's long-beaked echidnas, anteaterlike creatures that lay eggs like reptiles, are even older, remaining unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs.

Donors are invited to sponsor a species and track its progress through blogs and discussion groups on the Web site www.edgeofexistence.org.

Researchers hope the catalog of bizarre creatures might attract younger donors. "The younger generation is more interested in the weird and wonderful," Baillie said.

"There's nothing like them when they go," Baillie said.

[Last modified January 17, 2007, 01:18:58]