Researchers claim that there are indications of a population collapse in African raptors.

 Researchers claim that there are indications of a population collapse in African raptors.

                                                        Source cbsnews.com

Researchers claimed in a report released on Thursday that populations of dozens of species of birds of prey are declining, putting African raptors that hunt during the day in danger of going extinct. 

In a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers examined data spanning the previous 40 years to examine 42 out of the 106 raptor species found in the nation. The populations of about 90% of the species under study declined. 

According to a news statement from one of the study's authors, Dr. Darcy Ogada, "Africa is at a crossroads in terms of saving its magnificent birds of prey." "In many areas we have watched these species nearly disappear."

One of the most recognizable raptors on the continent, the secretarybird, is in danger of going extinct, according to Ogada, director of The Peregrine Fund's Africa program."There's no single threat imperiling these birds, it's a combination of many human-caused ones," Ogada stated. "In other words we are seeing deaths from a thousand cuts."

                                                    Source cbsnews.com

Among the animals in danger are several varieties of vultures, eagles, kestrels, buzzards, and falcons.

Conversion of woodland areas to agricultural land has harmed raptors in Africa. 

According to a news statement from the University of St Andrews, Dr. Phil Shaw, the study's author and professor, "since the 1970s, extensive areas of forest and savanna have been converted into farmland, while other pressures affecting African raptors have likewise intensified." 

Shaw also mentioned the increase in the population of the nation. Africa has the fastest pace of population growth among the continent's major regions; the UN projects that by 2050, the population of sub-Saharan Africa will have doubled.

Bird populations are dropping across the continent, not just in Africa. According to a 2019 study, scientists estimate that almost 3 billion birds, or 29% of the bird populations in the United States and Canada, have disappeared. Scientists issued a warning that same year that one million plant and animal species were in danger of going extinct globally.

 Source cbsnews.com