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Climate change hits bird species, report shows

One in eight of the world's bird species are at risk of extinction, and climate change is accelerating many of the factors that threaten them, the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has found.

Long-term drought and sudden extreme weather events are putting additional stress on the pockets of habitat that are important to many threatened bird species, the report shows.

The list shows there are 1,226 species of bird now threatened, with eight species newly listed as critically endangered, the highest threat category.

"This latest update of the IUCN Red List shows that birds are under enormous pressure from climate change," Jane Smart, from IUCN’s Species Programme, was reported as saying.

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