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10 OF THE MOST CRITICALLY
ENDANGERED SPECIES
IN THE WORLD
1. Amur Leopard
(Scientific Name: Panthera pardus orientalis)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Fewer than 30
Amur Leopards also known as the Far East leopard or the Korean leopard, are native to the southeastern regions of Russia near the Chinese border and are teetering on the brink of extinction. The leopard is hunted and poached largely for its beautiful, spotted fur. Of all the leopards, the Amur leopard is the most critically endangered with a population of fewer than 30 individuals.
2. Mountain Gorilla
(Scientific Name: Gorilla beringei beringei)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Around 900
The mountain gorilla is primarily found in various regions all across Africa namely Uganda, Rwanda, and Virunga. Aside from poaching, their population has decreased due to loss of habitat, traps, kidnapping, being killed for meat and lack of food. The war in Rwanda in the early 1990s and years of civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo have sent waves of refugees into the region around the Virunga Mountains parks that are home to more than half the mountain gorilla population, leading to poaching and destruction of gorilla habitat.
3. Northern Sportive Lemurs
(Scientific Name: Lepilemur septentrionalis)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Less than 20
Northern Sportive Lemurs, unique to the island of Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa, might become the first primate species known to have gone extinct during the last 200 years with researchers reporting there may be fewer than 20 individuals left in the wild. There are around 100 species of these primates, all of which are declining dramatically in population, mostly because of habitat loss due to deforestation and illegal hunting.
4. Saola
(Scientific Name: Pseudoryx nghetinhensis)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Unknown
Saola, rare and seldom seen, also known as the Asian Unicorn with no more than several hundred remaining was only recently discovered in 1992 during a survey when the team found a skull with unusual long, straight horns in a hunter's home and knew it was something extraordinary. The find proved to be the first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years and one of the most spectacular zoological discoveries of the 20th century. They are found only in the Annamite Mountains of Vietnam and Laos. Saola is not a target species in commercial trade, it has no value in traditional medicine, but is unfortunately already being driven to extinction largely due to Illegal hunting, indiscriminate snaring and trapping.
5. Sumatran Elephant
(Scientific Name: Elephas maximus sumatranus)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Less than 2800
Native to the Indonesia, island of Sumatra, the Sumatran Elephant is was changed from “Endangered” to “Critically Endangered” because half of its population has been lost in one generation and has declined by at least 80% over the last three generations—a decline that is largely due to habitat loss and as a result human-elephant conflict. Poaching & killing for selling their tusks in the illegal ivory market has been a severe problem. Only male Asian elephants have tusks so every poaching event further skews the sex ratio further constraining breeding rates for the species.
6. Leatherback Turtle
(Scientific Name: Dermochelys coriacea)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Unknown
The largest sea turtle, the leatherback turtle is most migratory and can range throughout almost all the oceans of the world. It nests on tropical beaches in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Once abundant throughout the world’s oceans, all eight species of sea turtles are now threatened or endangered. Although their distribution is wide, leatherback turtles have seriously declined during the last century as a result of intense egg collection and fisheries bycatch. The leatherback’s problems include illegal hunting and nesting-habitat loss due to beach development, and the erosion of beaches due to global climate change.
7. Cross River Gorilla
(Scientific Name: Gorilla gorilla diehli)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Fewer than 300
Cross River gorillas are the most endangered African apes. Once thought to be extinct, this unique subspecies of gorilla “resurfaced” in the 1980s and is found only along the southern section of the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Critically endangered these species remain fewer than 300 individuals. Apart from being threatened by poaching, hunting and habitat destruction, the population risks inbreeding and a loss of genetic diversity because there are so few Cross River gorillas and they live in groups that interact infrequently if at all.
8. Siberian (or Amur) Tiger
(Scientific Name: Panthera tigris sumatrae)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Less than 400
Amur tigers were once found throughout the Russian Far East, northern China, and the Korean peninsula although their habitat is now restricted to the Sikhote-Alin range in the Primorski and Khabarovski provinces of the Russian Far East, and to small pockets in the border areas of China and possibly North Korea. It is estimated there are around 400 Siberian tigers surviving. The primary threats to the survival of Siberian tigers are poaching and habitat loss from intensive logging and development.
9. Javan Rhinoceros
(Scientific Name: Rhinoceros sondaicus)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Less than 35
Javan rhinos were once rather common over a large part of Southeast Asia, but now are the most threatened of the five rhino species, with less than 35 surviving in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. Poached for their horns they are often used as ingredients in formulating Chinese medicine. Vietnam’s last Javan rhino was poached in 2010.
10. Vaquita
(Scientific Name: Phocoena sinus)
Status: Critically Endangered
Population: Less than 100
The world’s most rare marine mammal, Vaquita wasn't discovered until 1958 and a little over half a century later it is on the edge of extinction with a population of fewer than 100 remaining. They are most often found only in the northern Gulf of California close to shore in the Gulf's shallow waters. According to researchers, Vaquita might be extinct, possibly by 2018, if fishery bycatch is not eliminated immediately.
Reference & Source:
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BLOG BY:
PRACHI CHAPHEKAR
OUTWOODS PTE LTD
PRACHI CHAPHEKAR
OUTWOODS PTE LTD