Amur Leopard
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Southwestern Primorye region of Russia
The Amur leopard is the most endangered big cat in the world, with only 14-20 adults and 5-6 cubs counted in a 2007 census. It is threatened by habitat loss, new roads, poaching, and exploitation of forests. This beautiful animal has lost more than 80% of its territory and will soon be extinct unless swift action is taken to save their remaining habitat. The last viable wild population of this critically endangered animal inhabits a mere 2,500 km² in the southwestern Primorye region of Russia (an area slightly larger than the size of Jacksonville, Florida). The Amur leopard used to range into China and the Korean Peninsula but is now considered extinct in those areas.

Black Rhino
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia
The Critically Endangered black rhino population has declined by over 90% over the last sixty years. The main threat to rhinos is poaching (illegal hunting) for the international rhino horn trade. Rhino horn is used in traditional Chinese medicines, and for ornaments such as dagger handles in some Middle Eastern countries.

Cotton-Topped Tamarin
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Colombia
Only 2000 adult of this small primate survive today. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, 20,000-30,000 individuals were exported to the United States for biomedical research. Up to 75% of original cotton-topped tamarin habitat has been cleared for agriculture and pasture. Their remaining habitat, even that in supposedly protected areas, is being taken over by intensive human colonization and forest loss for agriculture or hydroelectric dam projects.

Hawksbill Turtle
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans; Mediterranean and Black Sea
Hawksbill turtles are threatened by hunting of adult females and eggs at nesting beaches, degradation of nesting habitats, fishing and incidental catch (bycatch) as a result of fishing for other species, and degradation of marine habitats. Significant domestic trade in Hawksbill products is a significant threat in the Americas and southeast Asia The population of mature female turtles has declined 84 to 87% decline in number of mature females nesting annually over the last 3 Hawksbill generations. Hawksbills are important components of healthy coral reef ecosystems because they consume sponges and algae which can smother or out-compete reef-building corals for space.

Lowland Gorilla
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria
Lowland gorilla populations have plummeted more than 80% over three generations. Exceptionally high levels of hunting and disease-induced mortality (over 90% in some large areas). Most protected areas have serious poaching problems and almost half of the habitat under protected status has been hard hit by the Ebola virus. Commercial hunting and Ebola induced mortality are accelerating. Experts predict that increased habitat loss and degradation from agriculture, timber extraction, and mining, will likely reduce gorilla populations by more than 80% by 2046.

Orinoco Crocodile
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Orinoco River in Venezuela and Colombia
From the 1930- 1960s this critically endangered reptile was hunted to the brink of extinction for its skin. Populations have not recovered, and continued illegal hunting and habitat destruction are major threats. Orinoco crocodiles may live as long as 80 years if not killed by hunters.

Philippine Eagle
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Philippines
This slow breeding species lives up to 40 years. Due to deforestation, Philippine eagles have experienced rapid declines in over the last 56 years, and only an extremely small population remains. Philippine eagles mate for life, and each pair needs a home range of about 50 square miles. The eagles’ home forests are being cut by commercial timber interests and cleared for cultivation, and eagles are hunted for food and trade.

Sumatran Orangutan
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Sumatra, Indonesia
The forest habitats of the Sumatran orangutan are under major threat from logging for timber and paper pulp used in book printing, clearing of forests for palm oil, and illegal hunting . Most orangutans live outside of protected areas, and less that 1% of their habitat is expected to be in good condition by 2030. Sumatran orangutan populations have declined by 97% over the past century.

Tiger
Status: Critically Endangered

Range: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand, Vietnam
Over the past century, tigers have disappeared from 93% of their historic range, including Java, Bali and southwest and central Asia. Wild populations have dropped from over 100,000 to fewer than 3,200, a number lower than those held in captive just in the US. Nine subspecies of tigers once roamed across Asia and Indonesia. Three of these tigers are now extinct, and a fourth, the South China tiger, is feared to be extinct. Sumatran and Siberian or Amur tigers are critically endangered, and the population of Bengal tigers is in rapid decline due to habitat loss and poaching.

Asian Elephant
Status: Endangered

Range: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam
Asian elephants once ranged over 9 million km2, from west Asia along the Iranian coast into the Indian subcontinent, and southeast Asia including Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and into China. Now extinct in west Asia, most of China, and Java. Asian elephants have been threatened by human activities for thousands of years. West Asian elephant populations probably went extinct as early at 100 B.C., while main populations in China were exterminated around 1500 B.C. Asian elephants now survive only in highly fragmented populations which are threatened by habitat loss and poaching.

Chimpanzee

Status: Endangered

Range: Equatorial Africa
Chimpanzees populations have decreased significantly, and is more than 50% is projected to be lost by 2030. The major threats to chimpanzees are habitat destruction and degradation, poaching and disease. More than 80% of the original forest cover in chimp habitat has been lost due to widespread conversion of forest and woodland to agricultural land. Logging and oil and gas mining is opening previously inaccessible areas to habitat degradation and poaching. Chimpanzees are targeted by poachers for bushmeat and for the pet trade. Chimpanzees are vulnerable to many human diseases which they are increasingly succumbing to as human populations expand into chimp habitat.

Galapagos Sea Lion
Status: Endangered

Range: Ecuador and the Galapagos islands
These graceful animals have declined by 50% over the past 3 years. They are very sensitive to fluctuations in ocean temperature and the populations their prey species. They are also vulnerable to diseases transmitted by feral dogs, and are incidentally killed by commercial fishing gear.

Giant Panda
Status: Endangered

Range: South-central China
The giant panda lives only in south-central China, and is dependent on bamboo for its diet. There are fewer than 2,500 mature giant pandas in the wild today. Their habitat has been greatly diminished by human population growth and forest clearing for cultivation and logging. Their isolated populations now survive in fragmented habitats, and habitat degradation continues to be the greatest threat to their survival.

Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo
Status: Endangered

Range: New Guinea
Over the past 30 years, Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo populations have dropped by more than 50%, due to hunting and habitat destruction. It has already been extirpated (locally extinct) from significant portions of its range. Tree kangaroo’s forest habitats are being destroyed for wood and timber, and cultivation for rice, wheat, and coffee plantations.

Grevy’s Zebra
Status: Endangered

Range: Ethiopia, Kenya
Grevy’s zebras need permanent water sources to survive. Reduction of available water sources, habitat loss and overgrazing, hunting and disease have reduced their populations by more than 50% in the last 18 years. Scientists estimate there are only 750 mature individuals remaining.

Hyacinth Macaw
Status: Endangered

Range: Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay
This beautiful bird is endangered by a massive illegal pet trade, and habitat loss as their nesting trees are burned or cut for cattle ranching and hydroelectric power schemes, industrial agriculture, and exotic (non-native) tree plantations.

Red-ruffed Lemur
Status: Endangered

Range: Madagascar (Masoala Peninsula only)
The red-ruffed lemur is at risk due to habitat loss and hunting. These stunning lemurs require tall primary forest and are susceptible to human encroachment and degradation of their habitats due to slash and burn agriculture.

Rothschild’s Giraffe
Status: Endangered

Range: the only remaining naturally occurring population occurs in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda
There are fewer than 2,500 surviving adult Rothchild’s giraffes. Their numbers are declining due to habitat degradation and poaching, and they may soon become Critically Endangered. Rothschild’s Giraffes have been re-introduced to six sites in Kenya and one site in Uganda (Kidepo Valley National Park) within the native range. The West African or Nigerian giraffe, which inhabits south-western Niger, is also endangered. This giraffe subspecies formerly ranged from Senegal to Lake Chad, but the only viable surviving population within this entire area is a small population in south-western Niger with a range of about 15,000 km. Reticulated giraffes, native to Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya have been reduced to a mere 5,000 individuals by poaching and armed conflict.

Snow Leopard
Status: Endangered

Range: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Only 4000 – 6500 snow leopards remain today. Their population plummeted in the 1990s and has declined by another 20% over the past 16 years. These gorgeous cats have been hunted extensively for their coats. Although this hunting is now illegal poaching is still a major threat, along with human encroachment in their habitat and reduction of their natural prey populations due to competition with livestock.

Sea Turtles
Status: At Risk of Extinction

Range: Tropical and subtropical oceans
Sea turtles have inhabited earth’s oceans for more than 100 million years. Sea turtles swim remarkable distances, coming ashore to lay their eggs. There are 7 species of sea turtles: green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, olive ridley, and flatback sea turtles. All sea turtles are threatened by extinction, due to overhunting, incidental catch in fisheries around the world, and destruction of nesting habitat and marine foraging habitat.

African Elephant
Status: Vulnerable

Range: Sub-Saharan Africa, rainforests in Central and Western Africa
Elephants are vulnerable due to poaching for their ivory tusks and for meat, and habitat loss and fragmentation due to human population expansion and land clearing for agriculture.

Lion
Status: Vulnerable

Range: Sub-Saharan Africa
Lions once ranged from northern Africa through southwest Asia and India into Europe. European lions were wiped out nearly 2,000 years ago. Over the last 150 years, lions have been exterminated in Asian lions except for a single population in one National Park in India. Sometime after the 1940s lions were driven extinct in North Africa. Lions now range across most of sub-Saharan Africa but are regionally Endangered in West Africa and isolated into fragmented populations through most of its range. Lions are rapidly losing ground due to human population expansion, depletion of their prey species, and killing due to conflicts with humans and livestock.

Red Panda
Status: Vulnerable

Range: Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal
The Red Panda depends on temperate forest habitats with bamboo-thickets, one of its key food sources. They are threatened by habitat loss from commercial logging, firewood cutting, forest clearing for agriculture and human habitation, and poaching. Because suitable forest habitat with bamboos is rapidly disappearing due to human encroachment, red pandas may be close to extinction in the western section of its range, particularly Nepal.

Victoria Crowned Pigeon
Status: Vulnerable

Range: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea
This dramatic bird is threatened by rapid population losses from hunting, deforestation and logging. Its Indonesian rainforest home is under serious pressure from loggers for timber and paper pulp production, and clear cutting to plant oil palm plantations. Prized by local hunters for its meat, this bird’s social nature and lack of fear unfortunately make it easy to catch.

Blacktip Reef Shark
Status: Near Threatened

Range: Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and Black Sea, Pacific Ocean
The Blacktip Reef Shark population is decreasing due to fishing in India and Thailand where it is eaten and collected for liver-oil. Little is known about its biology, but it has a long gestation cycle, taking from 8 -16 months, meaning it cannot reproduce quickly when its population declines.

Great Hornbill
Status: Near Threatened

Range: Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam
This striking bird is declining throughout its range due to habitat loss, logging, and hunting. The bird is often killed for its unique hornlike feature, called a casque, which is used as a trophy.

Jaguar
Status: Near Threatened

Range: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, lower SW United States,Venezuela
These spectacular cats are the largest in the New World (North and South America, Mexico and Central America). Jaguars need large home ranges and reliable sources of water. Habitat loss and hunting have driven it from 64% of its historic range. Rampant deforestation in Latin America has fragmented populations, and hunting, competition with humans for prey species are serious threats.

Vietnamese Mossy Frog
Status: Unknown

Range: Vietnam
This population status of this remarkable-looking frog species is entirely unknown. Its unique skin pattern and texture helps it blend into the moss and lichens along the forested rivers and streams it inhabits. The Vietnamese mossy frog is threatened by its demand in the global pet trade, and the destruction and clear-cutting of its remaining forest habitats.

Species data from IUCN and IUCN Red List. For more information on species status and global biodiversity trends visit www.iucnredlist.org.