The Amazon rainforest is predicted to decline by up to 60 percent due to deforestation, new research shows.
The rainforest is home to the short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis), "one of the least studied canids in the world and are currently listed as a threatened species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List," according to the Daily Mail.
Also called 'ghost dogs', they live in some of the hardest-hit areas in the Amazon rainforests in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. This new environmental threat can reduce their habitat by 30 percent by 2027.
Monitoring an elusive species
Published in the Royal Society of Open Science, the study was based on video footage taken by cameras across 27,000 square miles in the Amazon rainforest. These tracked the behavior of short-eared dogs and other animals that live in it to understand how deforestation is affecting them.
According to the Daily Mail, "The researchers compiled information from the surveillance cameras with topographic data from the region tracking the region's recent deforestation."
The results of the research reveal forest loss is a serious threat to short-eared dogs. They were first documented by travelers in 1883, but were only studied in the early 2000s when scientists finally tracked them.
The researchers noted the dogs acted differently in regions where deforestation was widespread. This was also evident in other species, indicating "disruptions to the entire ecosystem."
A unique animal in the Amazon
Short-eared dogs are omnivores, eating small river fish, insects, other small animals, as well as fruits. Veterinarian and researcher Renata Leite Pitman, who traveled to the Amazon in 2014, said in Mongabay, "while the short-eared dog prefers meat when it can get it, it's actually a major fruit-eater."
Leite Pitman added," the species even plays a vital role in the Amazon ecosystem by dispersing the seeds of many key plants." It depends on the giant armadillo for its burrows, where they would squat after the armadillo digs it out.
Now that there's less rainforest, they won't be able to move that much. According to the Daily Mail, "the effects of deforestation could be even more severe, with less new growth to fill in the deforested terrain."
'Ghost dogs' have less cover from other predators in the rainforest, such as boa constrictors and jaguars. However, the predators will also have a hard time finding food because their prey will be hiding all the time.
According to the team, the deforestation will affect one-quarter of all mammal species in the forest.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says the Amazon rainforest has, "at least 40,000 plant species, 427 mammals, 1,300 birds, 378 reptiles, more than 400 amphibians, and around 3,000 freshwater fish."
In Brazil, WWF said there are "between 96,660 and more than 100,000 invertebrate species" alone.
Read now: Morbid Effects of Climate Change Shows Wolf Spiders Resort to Cannibalism
