These species are so close to extinction they fit in a subway car

These species are so close to extinction they fit in a subway car

The train is delayed due to an endangered passenger.

There are more than 16,000 animals currently on the endangered species list. To show how few remain of some of these creatures, Mona Chalabi, an artist and data journalist at The Guardian, drew them to scale inside NYC’s subway.

“Some species are so close to extinction that every remaining member can fit on a New York subway carriage,” Chalabi wrote. “(If they squeeze).”

Chalabi chose seven of the most critically endangered species, representing every kingdom from reptiles to birds to marine life, to place inside one 10x75x12 foot subway car.

Species include the 40 remaining Burmese Roofed Turtle, the 63 Javan Rhino left in the world and the Guam kingfisher, which is extinct in the wild but 29 are currently in captivity for breeding.

A female Amur leopard in Russia.Getty Images

Most animals end up on the endangered list due to poaching, deforestation, another invasive species or climate change, which can affect their migration, mating or food supply.

The Guam kingfisher went extinct in 1988 after the brown tree snake was introduced to the island in the mid-1940s and spent decades invading their territory. The Amur leopard is nearing extinction, with only about 60 left in southeastern Russia and northern China, because of poaching for their fur.

The US currently has over 1,300 endangered or threatened species. In December, the US Endangered Species Act, currently under threat from rollbacks by the Trump administration, will celebrate its 45th anniversary. The act has been credited with saving 99 percent of protected species in the US from extinction, including the bald eagle, grizzly bear and Florida manatee.

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