Search results
The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria are intended to be an easily and widely understood system for classifying species at high risk of global extinction. It divides species into nine categories: Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild and Extinct.
- STAR
STAR threat-abatement scores for amphibians, birds and...
- STAR
STAR threat-abatement scores for amphibians, birds and mammals for the threat from invasive and other problematic species. The global STAR threat-abatement score can be disaggregated by threat type, based on the known contribution of each threat to species' risk of extinction.
- Overview
- vaquita (Phocoena sinus)
- tiger (Panthera tigris)
- whooping crane (Grus americana)
- blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
- Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
- sea otter (Enhydra lutris)
- Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus)
- gorilla (Gorilla beringei and Gorilla gorilla)
- Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)
(Read E.O. Wilson's Britannica essay on mass extinction.)
Vaquitas, the rarest and smallest of all cetaceans (members of a certain order of aquatic mammals), inhabit only the waters in Mexico’s Gulf of California. There were nearly 600 vaquitas in 1997, but estimates of how many survive as of 2022 range from just 10 to 18 of the porpoises. The vaquita’s natural range is rich in fish and shrimp, and theref...
William Blake’s “forests of the night,” the stalking grounds of the six subspecies of tigers, are burning bright. Slash-and-burn agriculture along with logging and human encroachment have hugely diminished the habitat available to these felines, which require extensive ranges capable of supporting the large herbivores that constitute the bulk of th...
In 1938, the first year a population survey was conducted, only 29 whooping cranes remained in the wild. Three years later only 16 were left. Hunting and reduction of their wetland habitat had decimated the population, and concerted efforts to salvage remnant birds did not begin until the late 1960s. In 2022 it was estimated that there were more th...
Fewer than 25,000 blue whales, the largest animals on the planet, survive today. Comprising several subspecies, blue whales are found in all of the world’s oceans save the Arctic. The current population is thought to have been reduced by up to 90 percent by whaling in the 20th century. Commercial hunting of the species was ultimately banned in 1966...
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species estimates that the current population of Asian elephants, which inhabit 13 countries, is about 40,000–50,000. That number may be far lower; some regions inhabited by the lumbering pachyderms are inaccessible because of the terrain or political volatility. Over 50 percent of the population is concentrated in I...
The luxurious waterproof coat that insulates sea otters from the chilly waters they inhabit almost led to their extinction. A target of the commercial fur trade, the species was almost wiped out, its population reduced from an estimated 300,000 in the early 1700s to some 2,000 by 1911. That year an international ban on commercial hunting was enacte...
At first glance, the Javan rhinoceros’s fleshy folds of skin appear to be plated armor, complementing the keratinous horn adorning the skull of this lumbering species. Its population faces many threats: natural disasters, habitat loss, disease, and, notably, poaching for its horn. In 2010 the last of continental Asia’s Javan rhinoceroses was killed...
Depending on whom you ask, there are either two species of gorilla, the eastern (Gorilla beringei) and western (Gorilla gorilla), or three subspecies, the eastern lowland, western lowland, and mountain gorillas. Regardless of whom you ask, all gorillas are endangered. There could be more than 300,000 gorillas left in the wild, and they’re listed as...
Between 1996 and 2008 the population of Tasmanian devils dropped some 60 percent because of a contagious cancer known as devil facial tumor disease. It continues to decimate populations of the species, which occurs only on the Australian island of Tasmania. There may be only 10,000 wild individuals remaining. Captive breeding of uninfected individu...
- Richard Pallardy
WWF is committed to saving endangered species. Learn more about the species we are working to protecting from becoming endangered or extinct.
Common NameScientific NameConservation Status ↓Panthera pardus orientalisCritically EndangeredDiceros bicornisCritically EndangeredPongo pygmaeusCritically EndangeredGorilla gorilla diehliCritically EndangeredOct 25, 2024 · IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, objective assessment system for classifying the status of plants, animals, and other organisms threatened with extinction. Unveiled in 1994, the list contains criteria and categories to classify species on the basis of their probability of extinction.
Currently, there are more than 166,000 species on The IUCN Red List, with more than 46,300 species threatened with extinction, including 44% of reef building corals, 41% of amphibians, 38% of trees, 37% of sharks and rays, 34% of conifers, 26% of mammals, 26% of freshwater fishes and 12% of birds.
People also ask
What is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species?
What are the three types of Threatened Species?
Which species are listed as Critically Endangered?
When is a taxon Near Threatened (NT)?
How does star measure species extinction risk?
When is a taxon considered endangered?
Aug 27, 2024 · Endangered Species. Each week we take a look at how the planet’s most vulnerable species are fairing - highlighting the devastating impact that human activities are having on wildlife and biodiversity.
