Government views Monarch Butterfly Releases as a threat to Western Milkweeds

[Paul Cherubini]

Patrick Foley wrote:

>                                 % extinct        % IUCN threatened
> Molluscs                        0.2                    0.4
> Crustaceans                    0.01                0.3
> Insects                            0.006            0.09
> Fishes                            0.1                2
> Amphibians                    0.1                2
> Reptiles                            0.4               3
> Birds                                1                   11
> Mammals                        1                     11
> 
> Total animals                0.04                0.3
> 
> Total Plants                0.2                    9

> The actual extinctions and IUCN threatened numbers are 
> appalling, but they probably represent the vulnerable tip of 
> the iceberg. 

Then again, some of these IUCN threatened designations
may not have a legitimate scientific basis. I would, for example,
question this one:

"In 1983, the IUCN Invertebrate Red Data Book designated
monarch migration a threatened phenomenon."

Paul Cherubini

 
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