WWF's Living Planet Index (LPI) measures changes in the status of more than 1,300 terrestrial, freshwater and marine species.

Between 1970 and 2003, those species declined by an average of around 30% – but that's only half the story.

The LPI also tracks the demands that humans make on the planet - our global ecological footprint. As of 2003 we exceeded the Earth's capacity by a frightening 25%.

We are currently spending nature's capital faster than it is being regenerated. Our lifestyle in the United Kingdom is such that we are indulging in three-planet living. Unless we take immediate action to live in harmony with the natural world, serious trouble is in store.

All of the species featured in Extinct illustrate this point very clearly:
Mountain gorillas, Asian elephants, hyacinth macaws, giant pandas, orang-utans and Bengal tigers have all seen their habitats destroyed so that the timber can be sold and to make way for agriculture and human habitation.

Leatherback turtles - and all of the other marine turtle species - are being killed on an unprecedented scale by the fishing fleets that plunder our seas to satisfy our seemingly infinite appetite for fish.

Polar bears are starving because their winter hunting grounds are disappearing. They rely on sea ice to hunt seals but this ice is forming later and later because of climate change.

Both this group of eight species endangered species and the Living Planet Report provide us with a window into the terrifying reality of what mankind's ever increasing consumption, expansion and unnecessary waste is doing to this earth.

The funds raised by Extinct will do a profoundly important job by helping to secure the futures of these creatures and the wildlife that lives alongside them, but if we want them to survive in the long-term we must also listen to the the message of the Living Planet Report and change our consumption patterns that are ravaging this planet.

You can read more about the Living Planet Index on WWF's international site.