List of mammals of Ascension Island

This is a list of the mammal species recorded on and around Ascension Island. Ascension Island has two native mammal species, both of which are beaked whales in the genus Mesoplodon. Neither is thought to be at risk, but there is insufficient data collected on them to allow an assessment to be made.[1]

The following tags are used to highlight each species' conservation status as assessed by the IUCN:

DD Data Deficient There is inadequate information to make an assessment of the risks to this species.

Some species were assessed using an earlier set of criteria. Species assessed using this system have the following instead of Near Threatened and Least Concern categories:

LR/cd Lower Risk/conservation dependent Species which were the focus of conservation programmes and may have moved into a higher risk category if that programme was discontinued.
LR/nt Lower Risk/near threatened Species which are close to being classified as Vulnerable but are not the subject of conservation programmes.
LR/lc Lower Risk/least concern Species for which there are no identifiable risks.

Subclass: Theria

Infraclass: Eutheria

Order: Cetacea (whales)

Blainville's beaked whale

The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. They are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic life with a spindle-shaped nearly hairless body, protected by a thick layer of blubber, and forelimbs and tail modified to provide propulsion underwater.

Notes

  1. ↑ This list is derived from the IUCN Red List which lists species of mammals and includes those mammals that have recently been classified as extinct (since 1500 AD). The taxonomy and naming of the individual species is based on those used in existing Wikipedia articles as of 10 August 2015.

References

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.