Losing species is like going bald. At first everything seems normal. The hair just gets a little thinner. But then it stops growing back.

In species heading for extinction, the number and density of populations declines first, while the species is still observable. Then, more and more thinned-out populations disappear. Before it dies out, the species may persist for a while, unable to reproduce and functionally extinct.

Even under normal conditions, life in the wild is a walk on knife’s edge. It takes only a few unfavourable factors combined to drive a species over the edge – slowly, but surely. That’s especially true if the evolutionary adaptation simply can’t cope with the required speed of change. The deceivingly normal appearance of disintegrating ecosystems and the almost imperceptible loss of species are among the biggest challenges in conservation.