This long-eared jerboa (Euchoreutes naso), from the deserts of Mongolia, is living on the edge. Now its prospects could be improved by a scheme to protect some of the planet’s most unusual creatures.
On 16 January, the Zoological Society of London launched the EDGE programme to focus conservation efforts on mammals that are both evolutionarily distinct – with few close relatives – and globally endangered.
Prioritising species according to the threats they face and their evolutionary relationships is no easy task. “We’re starting with mammals,” says Jonathan Baillie, who heads the EDGE team. He hopes to extend EDGE to amphibians in the…
