CONTENTS BY THE NUMBERS 4 ASIA 6 EUROPE 12 AFRICA 16 AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 20 THE AMERICAS 24 WHAT CAN WE DO 30 GLOSSARY 32 INDEX 32
BY THE NUMBERS The International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN has assessed over 46,000 different animal species Its job is to determine the status of each animal species identifying those animals that are of least concern and drawing attention to those that are on the path to extinction It's not a pretty picture 4 IUCN RED LIST CATEGORY Least Concern Near Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Critically Endangered Extinct In The Wild Extinct 44,253
at risk animals There are 3,483 animal species that have been defined as critically endangered meaning they face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild All of the animals in this book are critically endangered BIRDS 223 AMPHIBIANS 540 ARTHROPODS 394 There are hundreds of critically endangered species that are actually thought to be extinct Until that can be confirmed their status isn’t changed But the true number of extinctions is likely much higher MAMMALS 225 FISHES 455 REPTILES 332 4655 6593 5426 3483 37 778 5
