• Question: what is the most endangered animal

    Asked by anon-283647 to Callum on 3 Mar 2021.
    • Photo: Callum Hamilton

      Callum Hamilton answered on 3 Mar 2021:

      There are lots of endangered animals around the world – different species of fish, rhino and elephants all the way to pangolins, armadillos, and other marsupial creatures. Things like the Yangtze river dolphin have become endangered and extinct in the past 10 years, so we need to think broadly and try to save them all and their environments they live in.

Comments

  • Photo: Callum

    Callum commented on :

    Unfortunately there are many different endangered animals so it is hard to pick just one which is most endangered. A group called IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has made a “Red List” which is a big list of many different animals and plants and gives each one a rating from “Extinct” (there are none left anywhere in the world) to “Least Concern” which are not in any danger.

    You can explore the list at https://www.iucnredlist.org/search. The “most endangered” plants and animals are those labelled as “Extinct in the Wild”. This means that they only exist in zoos or gardens and not in the wild any more. This is quite sad but shows why zoos or botanical gardens are important as they can try and breed these animals and plants so that one day they might be able to go back into the wild.