Rolling Stone USA - 04.2020

BRAMBLE CAY MELOMYS (^)
HABITAT An island off the coast of Australia THREAT Habitat loss
KOALA
HABITAT Bushland on the east coast of Australia
THREATS Dehydration, rising temperatures, fire
When wildfires tore through 25.5 million acres of
Australian bushland earlier this year, koalas did the
one thing they know how to do when they’re in dan-
ger — climb high into the trees and curl into a tight
ball. But their only defense mechanism was com-
pletely ineffective against climate-change-fueled
fire and smoke. By one estimate, more than 25,000
koalas may be dead in the wake of the fires, as much
as half the population. That disaster was only their
most recent challenge in adapting to the climate
crisis: In 2018, Australia faced its worst droughts
in 400 years. The marsupial typically doesn’t drink
water — it gets all of the moisture it needs from
the eucalyptus it eats. But as the drought dried up
the country’s plant life, stories emerged of koalas
wandering into bird baths or simply dropping out of
trees from dehydration. 
APRIL 2020 / ROLLING STONE / 81
REINDEER
HABITAT Arctic tundra and adjacent boreal forests
of Greenland, Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska, and
Canada THREAT Food scarcity
You could be forgiven
for thinking the rein-
deer is just a mythical
creature of holiday lore.
The iconic sled-hauler,
called caribou in the
United States, went ex-
tinct in the lower 48 just
this past winter, when
the last remaining herd
in the Pacific Northwest
was found to be down
to its last member.
They’re also struggling
farther north. Through
the Arctic winter, when
the grasses and veg-
etation that comprise
their usual diet are long
dead, these herbivores
survive by digging up
nutrient-rich lichen
from underneath the
snow. But as the Arctic
warms twice as quickly
as the rest of the globe,
there’s less snow and
more rain in winter,
which creates hard, icy
layers that block the
deer from reaching the
lichen. Over the past
two decades, the Arctic
reindeer population
has plummeted by half;
200 of them died of
starvation this past win-
ter alone. “How many
species can we pull out
before the metaphorical
Jenga tower collapses?”
says Delach. “We
shouldn’t be thinking in
terms of how many spe-
cies we should let go
extinct. We should be
trying to save as many
as we can.”
This tiny rodent was the world’s first mammal to be wiped out by climate change. 
The entire species lived on a 12-acre island above the Great Barrier Reef called
Bramble Cay, which it is thought to have colonized via driftwood or a land bridge
lost to sea rise. In 2008, when its population dipped below 100 after decades of
decline, the Australian government created a recovery plan. But when scientists
returned in 2014, they didn’t find a single melomys; it is believed to have been
wiped out by storm surges and rising sea levels. “The Bramble Cay melomys was
a little brown rat,” said Tim Beshara of the Wilderness Society. “But it was our little
brown rat, and it was our responsibility to make sure it persisted. And we failed.”