China's domestic population of reptiles and amphibians has dropped by a staggering 97% in the past four decades

China’s wildlife is vanishing at an alarming clip, a new report has found. The Middle Kingdom’s population of terrestrial vertebrates – including mammals, amphibians, birds, reptiles – has fallen by nearly one half over the past four decades, according to the World Wildlife Fund. That gloomy stat is in keeping with trends around the globe, which saw the number of vertebrates drop by 52% between 1970 and 2010, WWF said. Reptiles and amphibians took the biggest hit during the 1970-2010 period, with their numbers dropping by a staggering 97%. Likewise, numbers of forest mammals—such as musk deer and snub-nosed monkeys—fell by 78%.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2015
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/11/13/chinas-wildlife-disappear…