A consumer craze for ornamental house plants has driven a family of cacti to the brink of extinction. Experts are warning over 80 per cent are in trouble because of the illegal trade.
Copiapoa cacti are highly desirable to collectors and this makes them a target for poachers who dig them up, trash the surrounding landscape, and then list them online in international markets.
They're flowering, pudgy, spikey and they often grow in clusters and have become a fashionable decor item in homes. The problem is that they belong in the desert in Chile, not on windowsills in Asia and Europe.
The warning has been issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which updated its Red List of threatened species this week. The review found 82 per cent of Copiapoa are now threatened, up from 55 per cent in just 11 years.
Read more at au.news.yahoo.com