About a fifth of reptile species—from the Galapagos tortoises to the Komodo dragon of the Indonesian islands, from West Africa’s rhinoceros viper to India’s gharial—are threatened with extinction, researchers said recently in the first comprehensive global status assessment for reptiles. The study examined 10,196 reptile species including turtles, crocodilians, lizards, snakes and the tuatara, the only surviving member of a lineage dating back more than 200 million years. They found that 21 per cent of species are critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority on the status of species. They also identified 31 species that already have gone extinct.

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