Actually, this list shouldn't even exist.

On it stand elephants, polar bears, tree frogs, cranes, migratory fish and pen mussels - this year these species represent the International Red List of the IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The “World Wide Fund for Nature” (WWF) has listed them as “Losers of the year 2021” to draw attention to the fact that there is still a loser list that is much longer: it contains more than 142,500 plants - and protected animal species, 40,000 of them are threatened - more than ever before.

Around a million species are threatened

"Species protection is no longer just about eliminating an environmental problem," said managing director Eberhard Brandes in a statement.

Mankind itself is dependent on vital ecosystems and biodiversity in order to survive.

Around a million species are threatened with extinction within the next few decades: This threatens the "largest species extinction since the end of the dinosaur era".

The African forest elephants fared particularly badly this year: their populations have collapsed by more than 86 percent in the past three decades.

Because they reproduce slowly, this could not only have serious, but also long-term consequences for their habitat.

Because until the population of the "gardeners of the forest" has recovered, it could take decades.

But marine animals are also seriously threatened by human encroachment on their habitat: Overfishing has shrunk all shark and ray species by a third; Migratory fish species such as salmon, sturgeon or huchen - species that were once widespread in Europe - suffer from the changed or cut river courses and deteriorating water quality. According to the Living Planet Index, European migratory fish stocks have plummeted by 93 percent since 1970. In Germany, the populations of certain bird species are also threatened. Above all, the gray crane finds hardly any nesting places and food here.

At least there are last places on this list that show that species extinction can be stopped.

The numbers of the rare Iberian lynx, for example, have recovered.

Today 1,111 animals live in the wild, ten times as many as 18 years ago.

There are also more bearded vultures flying in the Alps, a total of 50 juveniles ensure the continued survival of the species, which only has 300 specimens.

And the great bustard, one of the heaviest birds ever to fly, will continue to be seen in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg.

At 347 animals, their population in Germany is higher than it has been in 40 years.