Seventeen unique Australian birds and mammals are set to go extinct in the next 20 years unless their protections are dramatically increased according to a new report by Australia's Threatened Species Recovery Hub.
The researchers took factors such as funding and levels of protection, as well as distribution and development in habitat areas, into consideration when calculating the probability that individual species would go extinct.
Researcher Hayley Geyle from Charles Darwin University said the animals that often received the most funding for protection and research were the most charismatic but not necessarily the most at risk.