Many animals around the world are at risk of becoming endangered. According to the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN), there are now 41,415 species -- including both animals and plants -- on the IUCN Red List, the world’s most
comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. 16,306 of them are at risk of extinction.
Explore the map to learn more about the wildlife statuses around the world and how you and your children can do to help!
The world map above shows the number of species listed as Threatened (EW, CR, EN, VU) on the IUCN Red List by country. Hover over each country to see details about endangered animals there, and learn more about the most critically endangered animals identified in the World Wildlife Fund species directory.
Is your country shown in red or orange on the worldmap above?
The IUCN Red List categorized the status of wildlife conservation into eight degrees.
We’ve consolidated the above statuses into three main categories: Extinct, Threatened, and Lower Risk.
The bar
graph below ranks each country by number of threatened and extinct species, from highest to lowest.
The top 5 countries with the largest amount of threatened and extinct species are the United States, Indonesia, Australia,
Mexico, and Madagascar, in the order of ranking. These 5 countries have an average number of 948 threatened species, and
66 extinct species. Even though Indonesia has the highest number (1,171) of threatened species, the United States has ~80
times more species that went extinct.
Hover over the bar graph to see the total number of extinct and threatened species across each country listed.
Can you find information from your own country on the list?
The United States has a total of 1,347 animal species listed on the Red List. Let’s break down the number into percentages and take a closer look to understand the composition of threatened species by taxonomic groups.
When we talk about wildlife conservation, we usually think about more commonly known animals, such as polar bears and
rhinos. However, from the pie chart above, “Plants” actually accounts for the majority of the threatened species, whereas
“Mammal” took up about 5% in the top 5 countries listed.
Regardless, both animals and the plants are in desperate need of our protection. Now that you understood the problem
animals around the world are currently facing, let's dig deeper into the main threats endangering animals.
In this session, we will focus on explaining how humans are threatening animals’ existence in three major ways: climate change, poaching, habitat loss. Click on each card to learn more about how these threats are affecting the animals.
In this session, we would like to further explore the detailed stories of these three animals, which are threatened for the reasons mentioned above. Hover over the cards to learn more about these stories. Let's see how we can help them!
Every one of us should protect these animals as much as possible. Preserve biodiversity and protect our planet.
When a species becomes endangered, it is a sign that the ecosystem is slowly falling apart. We know the statistics might
be depressing, but with the continuous effort and actions made by everyone, we can all make a difference in wildlife
conservation.
Do you want to take part in more actions to make a difference?
Here are some at-home activities that we recommend you and your children to participate in!
Rainforests, deserts, and safaris...Learning about all the different habitats around the world can help children understand the difference of species, and how animals can adapt and thrive.
Compost improves soil structure, recycles organic resources, and more importantly, reduces greenhouse gases!
Make your backyard a bird-friendly environment so that birds can have a safe place to find food!
IUCN Red List
World Wildlife Fund
Location by Kevin Feyder from the Noun Project
"Walking Amur leopard cub" by Tambako the Jaguar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
"Head On I - Black Rhino" by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
"Bornean Orangutan portrait" by Jo@net is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"File:Cross river gorilla.jpg" by arenddehaas at English Wikipedia is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
"Eastern Lowland Gorilla (Amahoro)" by scara1984 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
"Diving Maldives: Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)" by Mal B is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
"Javan Rhino at Fort Worth Zoo" by Karl Heubaum is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
"Orangutan sitting in the grass" by Tambako the Jaguar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
"Saola" by Global Wildlife Conservation is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Sumatran elephant in Tesso Nilo National Park, Indonesia" by @NonprofitOrgs is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"The Sumatran Orangutan (IMG_6581)" by Schristia is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Rosa - Sumatran Rhino" by httsan is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
"National Zoo - Sumatran tiger" by wallyg is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
"Vaquita - 2008" by NOAA Fisheries West Coast is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
"Breakfast - Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) - Paignton Zoo, Devon - May 2019" by Dis da fi we is
licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
"Finless Porpoise" by kuribo is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"File:Pseudoryx nghetinhensis.PNG" by The original uploader was Silviculture at Vietnamese Wikipedia. is licensed under CC
BY-SA 3.0
“Poaching” by Tima Miroshnichenko
“Photo of Brown Bare Tree on Brown Surface during Daytime” by Pixabay
“Person Standing Beside Body of Water” by Valdemaras D.
Photo by Chris Charles on Unsplash
Photo by Maurits Bausenhart on Unsplash
Photo by David Troeger onUnsplash
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218819
https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/orangutan
https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/marine_turtles/leatherback_turtle/?
https://www.fws.gov/northflorida/seaturtles/turtle%20factsheets/leatherback-sea-turtle.htm
Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash
Photo by Neslihan Gunaydin on Unsplash
Photo by Forest Simon on Unsplash