I find it very difficult to take statistics like this seriously:

Extinction crisis escalates

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Life on Earth is disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken, according to the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

There are now 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List and 16,306 of them are threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year. The total number of extinct species has reached 785 and a further 65 are only found in captivity or in cultivation.

One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the worlds assessed plants on the 2007 IUCN Red List are in jeopardy.

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When I read stories like this:

'New type of bird' found in Nepal

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A previously unknown sub-species of bird has been discovered in the southern grasslands of Nepal, scientists say.

The bird is a warbler with a very long tail and slender beak and has been named the Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia.

[...]

It has different dimensions from the two other types of Rufous-vented Prinia, and in colour comes between the rich chestnut of its western neighbour and the grey of the one to the east.

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So what I'm taking from this is that because it's a slightly different colour and a slightly different size to some other bird, it qualifies as a separate species. So how many of the 16000-odd endagered 'species' mentioned in the first article are just a slightly different coloured weasel, a kangaroo with a short tail, a cockroach that lives in india instead of africa or a pony with a limp? Why should we care that these vague subspecies are in danger of becoming extinct? Doesn't that dilute the message that some more unique species are in real danger?

And how does this species classification work exactly? I mean, I'd get accused of racism if I said that black people were a different species to white people or of gingerism if I said that people with ginger hair and freckles were a different species to people with blonde or brown hair. Why do we refer to different types of dogs or cats as 'breeds' instead of 'species'? Wouldn't it make much more sense to refer to the slightly differing subtypes of Warblers as breeds?

Anyway. I'm a unique species of human with a combination of brown hair, a big nose, very large big toes and a particular face shape that no-one else has. There's only one of me so I must be endagered, right? So you should worry about me and Greenpeace should campaign for my protection and people should donate money to charities for my welfare and I should be brought women in order that I can mate with them in an attempt to make more of me!

I'm very confused. I also have a headache, which probably doesn't help!