Tracking what's alive on Earth and what affects it.
Humans, now
On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Northern bald ibis (Moroccan wild population)
at least700
At least this many
2018
Geronticus eremita
Morocco, Atlantic coast near Agadir
Counted 2018, by Böhm and colleagues in the journal Oryx (released 2 December 2020).
The Moroccan wild population of the northern bald ibis numbered at least 700 at the end of the 2018 breeding season, a minimum known alive and not a population estimate, reported by Böhm and colleagues in the journal Oryx (released 2 December 2020).
The Moroccan wild population numbered at least 700 northern bald ibises in 2018, up since 2015, Böhm and colleagues report.
How it was counted
The figure counts animals, not pairs or nests, and covers the Moroccan wild population (Souss-Massa National Park and Tamri), not the whole species. It is a minimum known alive at the end of the 2018 breeding season, not a population estimate, which is why it reads as at least 700.
A minimum, not a population estimate: at least 700 ibises were known alive at the end of the 2018 breeding season, and the true total may be higher.
Earlier figures
- 584 in 2015: the previous count. Source: Böhm et al. 2020, Oryx 55(6): 934-946.
What moves it
Böhm and colleagues name habitat change, human disturbance, hunting and pesticides as the causes that cut the number of breeding sites in Morocco. The same paper names keeping the traditional farmland the ibis depends on, and preventing disturbance around the breeding sites, as ongoing challenges.
- habitat change, human disturbance, hunting and pesticides, which cut Morocco's breeding sites from 38 in 1940 to three in 1989.
as a result of habitat modification, human disturbance, hunting and pesticide use
Source: Böhm et al. 2020, Oryx 55(6): 934-946. - loss of the traditional farmland it depends on, and disturbance around the breeding sites, named as ongoing challenges.
Maintaining the traditional agricultural areas and preventing disturbance around the breeding sites will be ongoing challenges
Source: Böhm et al. 2020, Oryx 55(6): 934-946.
Who is helping
Parc National de Souss-Massa (the Moroccan National Parks authority) manages the colonies, and Böhm and colleagues credit that work for the sustained rise in the Moroccan wild population: "Management by the Moroccan National Parks authority has been key to this success". The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Sociedad Española de Ornitología, later with GREPOM, worked with the park on hiring and training local fishers as wardens and on rural development projects around the colonies.
The next count
The count is annual (colony counts by park wardens); no date for the next published figure is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
- Böhm et al. 2020, Oryx 55(6): 934-946 Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): At least 700 (At least this many, 2018).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.