Most Endangered Animals

Chinese River Dolphin

The World Conservation Union (IUCN)'s 2007 Red List of Threatened Species was made public today. The list tells us about the status of endangered species. Since 2006, the annual assessment of the planet's imperiled wildlife has grown by more than a thousand species and now it totals 41,415. This is really an important matter, and every human being must understand it's importance.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species.

In the new list, the Baiji, or Chinese river dolphin thought to be "functionally extinct" by a team of scientists in December has been downgraded from "endangered" to "critically endangered (possibly extinct)". Western lowland gorilla is a new addition to the list. Due to the commercial bushmeat trade and the Ebola virus, population of Western lowland gorilla has declined. And in Indonesia, orangutans are critically endangered because of forest logging and clearing land for palm oil plantations. Link

Egyptian Vulture is also a new addition

Western Lowland Gorilla