Home > Endangered species
An endangered species is a species whose population is so small that it is in danger of becoming extinct. Many countries have laws offering special protection to these species (forbidding hunting, banning their habitats from development, etc.) to prevent this. Only a few of the many truly endangered species actually make it to the lists and obtain legal protection. Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct, without gaining public notice.Many of these laws are controversial. Typical areas of controversy include: criteria for placing a species on the endangered species list, and criteria for removing a species from the list once its population has recovered; whether restrictions on land development constitute a "taking" of land by the government, and the related question of whether private landowners should be compensated for the loss of use of their land; and obtaining reasonable exceptions to protection laws.
A listing as an endangered species can backfire, as it makes a species more valuable and more desirable for collectors and poachers[1].
The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that endangered species continuing to survive. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the overall increase or decrease in the population over time, breeding success rates, known threats, and so on.
The best-known worldwide conservation status listing is the IUCN Red List, but many more specialized lists exist.
The following conservation status categories are used in articles in this encyclopedia. They are loosely based on the IUCN categories.
- Extinct: the last remaining member of the species had died, or is presumed to have died beyond reasonable doubt. Examples: Thylacine, Dodo.
- Extinct in the wild: captive individuals survive, but there is no free-living, natural population. Examples: Dromedary, Przewalski's Horse.
- Critical or critically endangered: faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future.
- Endangered: faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future.
- Vulnerable: faces a high risk of extinction in the medium-term.
- Secure or lower risk: no immediate threat to the survival of the species.
1 Endangered mammals
- Asian ElephantAsian Elephant : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Proboscidea : Elephantidae Elephas maximus Binomial name Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758 The Asian Elephant Elephas maximus is a species of elephant formerly known as the Indian Elephant . It is smaller tha (Elephas maximus)
- Aye-ayeThe Aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis is a primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the ecological niche of a woodpecker. It taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inser (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
- BantengThe Banteng Bos javanicus is an ox, which is found in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Borneo, Jakarta, and Bali. Some Banteng were introduced to Northern Australia during British colonization. Banteng grow to about 1. 6 metres at the shoulder (Bos javanicus)
- Bighorn SheepBighorn Sheep Ovis canadensis is a species of sheep in the continental United States with several subspecies. Populations declined drastically with European colonization of the American Southwest beginning in the 1500s. As of 2004, Bighorn Sheep numbers a (Ovis canadensis)
- Black-footed FerretBlack-footed Ferret : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Carnivora : Mustelidae Mustela nigripes Binomial name ''Mustela nigripes Audubon & Bachman, 1851) The Black-footed Ferret Mustela nigripes is a small carnivorous North American mammal closely related (Mustela nigripes)
- Blue WhaleThe Blue Whale Balaenoptera musculus is a mammal which belongs to the baleen whales suborder. They are filter-feeders, using their baleen to strain plankton out of the seawater. The Blue Whale is the largest animal known to have ever lived, at up to 30 me (Balaenoptera musculus)
- BonoboThe Bonobo Pan paniscus , sometimes called the Pygmy Chimpanzee is one of the two species comprising the genus Pan both members of that genus are technically "chimpanzees", though the term is frequently used to refer only to the other member of the genus, (Pan paniscus)
- Burrowing Bettong (Bettongia lesueur nova))
- Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)
- Chinese River Dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer) and other river dolphins
- Eastern Gorilla (Gorilla beringei)
- Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
- Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
- Gelada (Theropithecus gelada)
- Giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus)
- Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
- Giant Pangolin (Manis gigantea)
- Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia)
- Gray bat (Myotis grisescens)
- Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi)
- Indri (Indri indri))
- Kouprey (Bos sauveli)
- Leopard (Panthera pardus)
- Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii)
- Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus)
- Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii)
- Père David's Deer (Elaphurus davidianus)
- Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus)
- Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)
- Red Wolf (Canis rufus)
- Savannah Elephant (Loxodonta africana)
- Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)
- Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis)
- Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia)
- Steller's Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus)
- Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis)
- Tiger (Panthera tigris)
- Vaquita (Phocoena sinus)
- Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla)
- West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus)
