Priceless or worthless? That's the question posed in a report released Tuesday that lists the 100 most endangered animals, plants and fungi around the globe, as chosen by 8,000 experts for the Zoological Society of London and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The question was raised because the species closest to extinction don't have an obvious economic value to mankind and yet some, especially the experts, would argue for their protection.

"The donor community and conservation movement are leaning increasingly towards a 'what can nature do for us' approach, where species and wild habitats are valued and prioritized according to the services they provide for people," Jonathan Bailie, conservation director at the Zoological Society of London, said in a statement issued with the report.

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"This has made it increasingly difficult for conservationists to protect the most threatened species on the planet," he added. "We have an important moral and ethical decision to make: Do these species have a right to survive or do we have a right to drive them to extinction?"

The species are native to 48 countries, but their names don't always shout out "Save me" -- among them the pygmy three-toed sloth (found only on an island off Panama and fewer than 500 are left); the Hainan gibbon (fewer than 20 are left on China's Hainan Island); and the willow blister (a fungi found in Wales).

The report doesn't estimate the cost of saving the 100 species, nor does it rank them, instead listing them alphabetically by their scientific name -- starting with Astrochelys yniphora, or ploughshare tortoise.

"Having narrowly survived hunting pressure and habitat destruction by fire in the past, this species’ good looks may be its ultimate downfall as illegal collection for the international pet trade is likely to push it to extinction in the wild in the near future," the report states.

Fewer than 770 ploughshare tortoise are thought to survive in the wild of their native Madagascar.

The experts noted that the 100 species chosen are just a fraction of the thousands of species that also face extinction, just perhaps not as soon.

"The future of many species is going to depend on reconciling the needs of people and nature, and ensuring economic development and conservation do not undermine each other," Simon Stuart, chair of the IUCN's species survival commission, said in a foreword to the report.

"If we ignore the question" about priceless or worthless, he added, "we shall be inadvertently accepting the ethical position that human-caused mass extinction is acceptable."

The World Wildlife Fund framed the issue slightly differently.

"Ideally, we would try and save every species on the planet because everything in nature is connected and so are the solutions to environmental problems," Sybille Klenzendorf, WWF's species conservation director, told NBC News. "However, since saving every single species would be an enormous undertaking, we must focus our efforts on conserving nature as a whole.

"For WWF, that means working on what we call umbrella species like tigers, elephants and rhinos," she added. "By focusing on conservation of those species, we’re also aiming to protect other species that share their habitat -- or are vulnerable to the same threats."

Cristian Samper, head of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, agreed on that approach.

"We won't be able to save every species, but if we are smart we can save many of them," Samper said. "We focus on places where you have many species and big threats."

"In extreme cases," Samper said, "we will save species in zoos and aquariums and then reintroduce them, like we did at the WCS Bronx Zoo with the American bison a hundred years ago and we are doing that now with turtles and frogs today."

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NEW DELHI — India's Supreme Court has halted a plan to re-introduce cheetahs to the country by shipping animals over from Africa after experts said the idea was "totally misconceived", the agency Agence France-Press reported.

The environment ministry had cleared the $56 million project which involved moving African cheetahs from Namibia to a wildlife sanctuary in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, AFP said.

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But a court-appointed adviser, identified by local reports as PS Narasimha, said: "Studies show that African cheetahs and Asian cheetahs are completely different, both genetically and also in their characteristics."

According to a report in the Daily Pioneer, the adviser added: “The introduction of alien or exotic species is universally shunned by wildlife experts.”

The Asiatic cheetah was once common on the plains of India but was hunted close to extinction during the British colonial era before disappearing in the 1950s, AFP said.  About 100 are thought to survive in remote regions of Iran.

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 A rare species of fish described as “faceless and brainless” was among the unusual finds made by marine scientists off Britain’s coast, according to a Scottish government report published on Thursday.

The prehistoric amphioxus species, which grows to about two inches long and has no fins, was recorded off Orkney, part of the Northern Isles that lie off the far northern coast of mainland Scotland.

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The elusive fish is regarded as a modern representative of the first animals that evolved a backbone, the Scottish government said.

With a nerve cord down its back, it has no specific brain or face. According to The Scotsman newspaper, it has a translucent, fish-like body but has no true skeleton.

It is usually found buried in sand in shallow parts of temperate or tropical seas, the newspaper said. In Asia, the species is harvested commercially to use as food for pets.

Other rare finds from the marine surveys, which covered over 2,000 square miles, included giant mussels with shells measuring up to 18 inches and new communities of Northern Feather Star, a brightly colored species with 10 feather-like arms fanning out from a central disc, which were revealed off the Sound of Canna, near Skye.

The Scottish Government said the findings will further the country's knowledge of the biodiversity of its seas.

Scottish Natural Heritage and Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University were among organizations that carried out the work.

Underwater video was shot and acoustic and 3D images were used in the surveys.

Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy with environmental campaign group WWF Scotland, added: “These surveys highlight that Scotland’s seas and coasts are home to a truly amazing range of weird and wonderful wildlife.

“By providing vital information on what lies beneath the waves, these surveys will help inform decisions on better ways to protect this important resource.”

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