SHOCKING NEWS...

On this of all days the words Caveat Lector should come into play, especially when there is at least one mistake in the opening paragraph of the story:

The inch-long Christmas Island pipistrelle, which weighs about a tenth of an ounce, could become the first Australian mammal to become extinct since the Tasmanian tiger in 1930.

The last captive thylacine died in Hobart Zoo in 1936, and I am certain that I have heard of other Antipodean mammals going extinct in the intervening years (memo to self: Ask Dr Naish) but, a brief trawl around the Internet does support the story which can be found here:

http://ecoworldly.com/2009/03/30/with-only-20-left-australian-bat-could-be-extinct-within-weeks/