STUTTGART, Germany – Eleven more species have been on the verge of extinction since 2016, according to a new list of vulnerable mammals in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini.
Lesueur’s hairy bat, the laminate vlei rat, the thick-tailed bushbaby, the aardvark, and the African straw-coloured fruit bat have all been added to the regional Red List of endangered mammals maintained by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
One of the most dramatic decreases was seen in the Namaqua dune mole-rat, which went from Least Concern to Endangered.
Joseph Ogutu, a senior statistician and researcher at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany, studies the declining numbers of wildlife in Africa.
According to Ogutu, 42% of the mammals that are unique to South Africa are in danger of going extinct, and 70 of the 336 species that were evaluated are currently threatened.
What does an uplisting on the Red List actually mean?
An uplisting may indicate one of:
A true decline, escalating risks, or habitat loss in the animal population, or
That new information has been discovered (for instance, if the mammal’s population was previously overestimated or underestimated).
The South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Endangered Wildlife Trust created the most recent Red List in 2025. An animal has been placed in a higher extinction-risk category if it is “uplisted” on the list.
Ogutu observes that an uplisting isn’t a label that makes headlines. “It’s the science catching up to determine whether or not the risk to mammals has increased or whether conservationists have created more precise methods of assessing the risk.”
The most recent Red List evaluations are based on data collected between 2016 and 2025 by 150 specialists working with the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Endangered Wildlife Trust. Through surveys, they kept a close eye on the populations of several mammal species during this time, calculating the extent to which the mammals’ habitat was diminishing (giving them less space to live on and less chance of survival). Additionally, they have utilised the information gathered by citizen scientists who documented mammal encounters during this period.
This latest Red List recognises that mammals are declining because of drought, heat, water shortages, and less opportunity to forage and graze.
Even previously common animals are now on the list. Does this mean Southern Africa’s mammals are doomed?
According to Ogutu, the uplisting demonstrates that the loss of wildlife is still caused by humans. He adds that the growing human footprint indicates that pressure on mammals will intensify, endangering species that were thought to be resilient, as well as uncommon mammals.
“This does not imply that mammals are doomed in general. It indicates that animals’ margin of safety is getting smaller. In a warming world with an expanding human population, the future seems grim, particularly for large mammals, unless strong, consistent action is taken to lessen demands on them and save their habitats,” explains Ogutu.
Both endemic (found exclusively in southern Africa) and non-endemic (found in other regions as well) animal species are negatively impacted. They include well-known big mammals like the aardvark and the thick-tailed bushbaby, as well as lesser-known bat species.
According to the most recent regional Red List, 39 mammals (11.5%) are near threatened, while 67 mammals (about 20%) are considered to be in danger of going extinct. The most vulnerable species are those that are impacted by their habitat.
“To put it another way, how quickly their environment is changing and how little space is left for ecological ‘error’. They are the mammals that, due to their restricted range, are unable to “move away” from change,” he says.
There is less protection for these creatures than previously believed. To exacerbate the situation, competing land uses—cultivation, grazing, habitation, infrastructure, and extractive development—contest their habitat, frequently under overlapping community, private, and state claims.
“I would venture to suggest that when ‘common’ species begin to face extinction, it’s not a sign of impending disaster but rather a clear warning, like a smoke alarm,” Ogutu discloses.
Some species’ numbers improved. What worked?
The report shows that three species had improvements: the southern elephant seal and Hartmann’s mountain zebra were both moved to Least Concern, while the roan antelope was downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable.
Successful interventions are the reason for this downlisting. Sustained conservation, which lessened the dangers to these species, could have been one of these. There were perhaps more initiatives to save their habitats. It could have been beneficial to collaborate with companies in public-private partnerships. It would have been beneficial to make better selections even with higher-quality data.
This teaches us that growth is rarely motivated by a single factor. Instead, it results from continuous actions that lower the number of animal deaths, protect their environment, and compel management to revise strategies as monitoring reveals what is and is not working.
Downlisting is not a coincidence, according to Ogutu; rather, it is the result of genuine protection, diminished dangers, and adequate monitoring.
What needs to happen next?
Ogutu, who is affiliated with the Greater Serengeti-Mara Conservation Society and the One Mara Research Hub, believes that the government, private sector and citizens need to do much more and invest more in protecting wildlife and habitats.
“The recurring trends where large land mammals are moving closer to extinction show that not enough is being done to protect southern Africa’s mammals,” he argues, adding that more money is needed to protect species and the kind of environment they need to live in.
There are at least three things that need to be done urgently:
- Development of housing, farms, roads and energy infrastructure must be designed around the environment.
- Conservation can no longer happen in isolated, fenced-off islands. A landscape systems approach will protect mammals and other threatened species better. This is where reserves are connected, governments work together to protect animals that live in cross-boundary areas, and conservation also happens outside park fences.
- Climate-proof conservation is needed. This is where conservation recognises that heat, drought and water scarcity are going to become ongoing, chronic pressures on animals as the climate heats up. They will not be shocked.
Ogutu further says that the uplisting of so many species demonstrates that better decisions—funded, enforced, and maintained—will rescue conservation, not better words.
The researcher also advises that more than just protecting species must be the focus of the next stage of conservation.
“Redesigning the human footprint must ensure that mammals have areas with adequate habitat (food, cover, and water), less human pressure (less use of wild land for human purposes, conflict, and poaching), and better protection and management (parks, well-run reserves, and some conservancies),” Ogutu further explains.
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