Scientists believe that were it not for a number of conservation initiatives, another 25 species would have become extinct, including 10 species within the past decade.

The US researchers have cautioned that besides habitat loss, climate change and other factors may also accelerate extinction.

They point out that the accidental introduction of a tree snake in Guam led to the elimination of many of the island’s birds in a few decades.

Massive fishing in the oceans poses a “relatively new and very serious threat to three-quarters of the 21 albatross species”, Pimm and his colleagues said in their report.