They look like tiny monkeys peering out from the mist. Known to scientists as Dracula, the so-called “monkey-face orchids” have become online celebrities.

Millions of people have shared their photos, marvelling at flowers that seem to smile, frown or even grimace. But behind that viral charm lies a very different reality: most of these species are teetering on the edge of extinction.

A new global assessment has, for the first time, revealed the conservation status of all known Dracula orchids. The findings are dire. Out of 133 species assessed, nearly seven in ten are threatened with extinction.

Many exist only in tiny fragments of forest, some in just one or two known locations. A few are known only from plants growing in cultivation. Their wild populations may already be gone.

These orchids grow mainly in the Andean cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador, some of the most biologically rich but also most endangered ecosystems on the planet. Their survival depends on cool, humid conditions at mid to high altitudes, where constant mist wraps the trees.

Unfortunately, those same slopes are being rapidly cleared for cattle pasture, crops like avocado, and expanding roads and mining projects, activities that are directly threatening several Dracula species (such as Dracula terborchii. As forests shrink and fragment, the orchids lose the microclimates (the specific temperature, light and humidity conditions) that they depend on for survival.

Another threat comes from people’s fascination with these rare and charismatic plants.........

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