Endangered Species

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) estimates that 26,500 species are threatened by extinction of an assessment of 96,900 species around the world. The species analysis includes both animals and plants. Species are sorted into one of nine categories: not evaluated, data deficient, least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild and extinct. Species from the vulnerable to extinct categories are considered threatened by extinction. Some endangered species include the Hawksbill sea turtle, the Eastern gorilla, several rhinoceros species, Capuchin monkeys and the red panda.¹ Forty percent of endangered species are amphibians, 25 percent are mammals and 14 percent are birds.² Trade, poaching and habitat destruction are some of the leading causes of animal population reduction and endangerment.³ The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora formed an international agreement to prohibit the trade of rare plant and animal species so as to eliminate trade as a contributor to endangerment and extinction.⁴