Wild Tulips in Central Asia Face Extinction Threat

More than half of the world's wild tulip species assessed by the IUCN are threatened with extinction. The majority of these species, 53, occur in Central Asia, where they face threats from livestock overgrazing and climate change. The Central Asian mountain systems of Tien Shan and Pamir-Alay are home to the richest tulip diversity on Earth, but are also where the biggest threats to wild tulips are concentrated. Grazing animals can trample tulip bulbs and eat the flowers before they produce seeds, while a warming climate is squeezing mountain species upslope with nowhere left to go.