|Scientific Name:||Desmana moschata| |Species
Authority:||(Linnaeus, 1758)| |Taxonomic Notes:||The only
representative of its genus.| |Red List Category &
Criteria:||Vulnerable A2bc+4bc ver 3.1|
|Assessor/s:||Tsytsulina, K., Formozov, N., Sheftel, B. &
Zagorodnyuk, I.| |Reviewer/s:||Amori, G. (Small Nonvolant Mammal
Red List Authority) & Temple, H. (Global Mammal Assessment
Team)| A rare species with a fragmented distribution. Population
size, area of occupancy, and habitat quality are all declining,
and the species faces a number of serious threats including
bycatch, habitat loss and degradation, water pollution, and
competition from introduced species. Surveys in Russia indicate
that the population declined from 39,000 in 1985 to 27,000 in
2000/2001, and it is suspected that rates of decline have
increased since then. The desman recently went extinct in
Belarus. Overall, it is suspected that declines exceed 30% over
a ten-year period in the past or future, so the species is
assessed as Vulnerable. |Range De