Most Endangered Animals

Most Endangered Animals, We chose not to include the giant panda on our roster of the world’s ten most endangered animals. The panda, as appealing and important as it is, has gotten plenty of attention from conservationists and the public alike. Time to make room for another critically endangered animal or two that hasn’t had as much time in the spotlight of looming extinction.


1 – IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER

The most critically endangered species on our list of the ten most critically endangered animals is the ivory-billed woodpecker, which lives—or lived—in the Southeastern part of the US as well as Cuba. This huge woodpecker was considered extinct until 2004, when a handful of tantalizing reports of sightings in Arkansas and Florida began to trickle in. However, definitive proof for the ivory-bill’s continued existence has remained elusive, and if a population does exist, it is likely to be tiny and extremely vulnerable. The ivory-billed woodpecker owes its near- or complete extinction to habitat loss (logging) as well as over-exploitation by humans, who hunted it for its feathers.

2 – AMUR LEOPARD

The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a very rare leopard subspecies that lives only in the remote and snowy northern forests of eastern Russian’s Primorye region. Its former range included Korea and northern China, but the Amur leopard is now extinct in those countries. A 2007 census counted only 14-20 adult Amur leopards and 5-6 cubs. Threats facing the species include habitat loss due to logging, road building and encroaching civilization, poaching (illegal hunting) and global climate change.

3 – JAVAN RHINOCEROS

The Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is the most endangered of the world’s five rhinoceros species, with an estimated 40-60 animals remaining on the western tip of the Island of Java (Indonesia) in Ujung Kulon National Park. Another tiny population—containing as few as six animals—lives in and around Cat Tien National Park in of Viet Nam. The water- and swamp-loving Javan rhinoceros formerly ranged throughout Southeast Asia and Indonesia, but has been hunted to near-extinction for its horn, which is used to make Asian folk medicines. Although it is now protected, it may not have a large-enough breeding population to prevent the species from going extinct.

4 – GREATER BAMBOO LEMUR

The Island of Madagascar, off the southeastern coast of Africa, is home to dozens of species of lemurs—and almost all of them are disappearing very quickly due to habitat loss and illegal hunting. But the most critically endangered of all of Madagascar’s lemurs is the greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus), also known as the broad-nosed gentle lemur. Fewer than 100 greater bamboo lemurs remain in the island’s southeastern and south-central forests, and they continue to be threatened by illegal hunting as well as habitat loss due to logging and the burning of forests for agricultural purposes.

5 – NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE

The most endangered of all the world’s whale species, the northern right whale (Eubalena glacialis) numbers around 350 individuals that travel the Atlantic coasts of Canada and the US. During the whaling days of the 19th century, the right whale got its name because whalers considered it the “right” whale to kill, as it not only was full of valuable whale oil, but it floated after it was dead, which made it easy to handle and process. As a result, it was driven to near extinction. Although the right whale is now protected, its small remnant population continues to suffer losses due to entanglements in commercial fishing gear: Whales drown after becoming wrapped in nets, lines and other equipment. Global climate change, which can affect the availability of the tiny crustaceans on which right whales feed, may prove to be another serious threat to their recovery.

Read more: icforum