Animals Endangered Species These Amazon Animals Would Still Go Extinct Even if Deforestation Stopped Tomorrow By Brian Merchant Writer UC Santa Barbara Brian Merchant is the author of The One Device, editor for OneZero, and is writing a book about Luddites. He lives in Los Angeles. our editorial process Twitter Twitter Brian Merchant Updated October 11, 2018 CC BY 2.0. The tree ocelot will almost certainly go extinct. Image: Wikimedia commons Share Twitter Pinterest Email Animals Wildlife Pets Animal Rights Endangered Species The tree ocelot will almost certainly go extinct. Image: Wikimedia commons/CC BY 2.0 Even if deforestation in the Amazon were to miraculously be halted tomorrow, and of course it will not be, a whole legion of creatures that have been scarred by its impacts would go extinct anyway. That's the finding of a depressing new study that shows how animals who lose their habitats don't die off immediately, but instead start winding down a multigenerational, often irreversible death spiral. Live Science explains: When species lose their natural habitat to deforestation and other causes, they don't immediately disappear. Instead, they gradually die off over several generations, racking up an "extinction debt" that must eventually be paid in full. New research shows that the Brazilian Amazon has accrued a heavy vertebrate extinction debt, with more than 80 percent of extinctions expected from historical deforestation still impending. As such, there are a number of animals still living in the Amazon today that will almost certainly perish in coming years, no matter what we do. Here are some of those not expected to survive:White-cheeked spider monkey Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0 Rio Branco antbird Arthur Grosset/via Tree ocelot cgull@cyberspace.org via Flickr/CC BY 2.0 Hoary-throated spinetail arthur grosset/via Brazilian tapir Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0 Yellow-headed poison frog Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0 Sorry, guys.