An ASU researcher, in collaboration with more than 100 biologists in 130 countries, has created the world’s first comprehensive list of mammals on the planet and shown that at least 1,141 of the planet’s known 5,487 mammals are in danger of extinction.

Andrew Smith, a professor in the School of Life Sciences, has helped to catalogue all of the known mammals on the planet in a paper titled “The Global Mammal Assessment,” to be published Friday in the journal Science.

“The Global Mammal Assessment” is a report detailing the status of the planet’s mammals and shows the geographic areas that provide the greatest threat of extinction to its mammals.

According to the assessment, since the year 1500, only 76 mammals have become extinct, and there’s a risk that the number will dramatically increase.

Smith said the idea of the assessment is not to just state a problem and cast blame without giving a solution.

“The purpose of this is not to merely say that mammal species are dying off,” Smith said. “We want this to become a benchmark that can be posted online for everyone in the world to see.”

Smith said that the list could be used as a Dow Jones index for endangered species, in that it can provide a frame of reference for future generations.

The project shows where the geographic problem areas are and what can be done to fix it, Smith said.

The assessment uses seven different criteria for assessing a mammal’s potential extinction, more complex than simply counting every monkey.

Smith said factors like the geographic range of a species and the percent of its decline are other factors in determining a species’ status.

“Taking a census of animals is hard,” Smith said. “The assessment gives us a frame of reference, allowing us to measure future trends against past trends, which is something we haven’t really been able to do before.”

The assessment shows the areas in the most trouble are southeast Asia, central Africa and central South America.

Smith attributes the problems of these areas to several factors like habitat destruction, over exploitation of exotic animals and the introduction of non native species.

There is a link between economic trends and animal conservation, Smith said.

“As the Chinese become wealthier, they desire more exotic possessions. Unfortunately, these are often endangered animals,” Smith said. “At the same time, people in central Africa are hungry. Hungry people don’t make good conservationists.”

Smith said a Golden Box Turtle could be sold on the black-market for nearly $2,500 per kilogram.

In one day, a southeast Asian airport recovered 14.9 tons of exotic animals and animal parts like the heads of Macaws, a discovery that Smith said was not uncommon. Alexis Sutton, spokeswoman for the World Wildlife Federation, said the assessment is a step in the right direction in terms of conserving the planets mammals.

“Man is the greatest threat to wildlife,” Sutton said. “This gives us a tool to use to show governments all over the world the harm that is being done and lobby for legislation that will help conservation.”

Reach the reporter at jaking5@asu.edu.