| Conservation status | |
| Extinction | |
| Extinct | |
| Extinct in the Wild | |
| Threatened | |
| Critically Endangered | |
| Endangered | |
| Vulnerable | |
| Threatened | |
| Lower risk | |
| Conservation Dependent | |
| Near Threatened | |
| Least Concern | |
| See also | |
| World Conservation Union | |
| IUCN Red List | |
For a list of species that are critically endangered, see critically endangered species.
Organisms with a conservation status of critically endangered have an extremely high risk of becoming extinct.
IUCN Category
The Critically Endangered status, in relation to other IUCN Red List categories
The World Conservation Union (IUCN), widely considered to be the most objective and authoritative system for classifying species in terms of the risk of extinction, lists 1665 animals of the world as being critically endangered in their 2008 Red List.
Critically endangered is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN for wild species. Critically endangered means that a species numbers have decreased, or will decrease, by 80% within three generations.
As the IUCN does not consider a species extinct until extensive, targeted surveys have been conducted, species which are possibly extinct are still listed as "Critically Endangered". A new category for "Possibly Extinct" has been suggested by BirdLife International to categorize these taxa.
Examples of Critically Endangered Species
- Addax
- African Wild Ass
- Appalachian Monkey-face Pearly Mussel
- Archey's Frog
- Asiatic Cheetah
- Aru Flying Fox
- Axolotl
- Baja California Pronghorn
- Bleeding Toad
- Black Stilt
- Blue-eyed Black Lemur
- Blue-knobbed Curassow
- Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus
- Blue-throated Macaw
- Bonin Flying Fox
- Borneo River Shark
- Bog Turtle
- Broadspotted Molly
- Burt's Deer Mouse
- Carpentarian Rock Rat
- Cebu Flowerpecker
- Chiltan Ibex
- Christmas Island Pipistrelle
- Ciçek
- Common Sawfish
- Cross River Gorilla
- Cuban Crocodile
- Cuban Kite
- Darwin's Fox
- David's Tiger
- Eastern Black Rhinoceros
- Flattened Musk Turtle
- Ganges Shark
- Giant Barb
- Giant Sea Bass
- Hamilton's Frog
- Iriomote Cat
- Javan Rhinoceros
- Madagascan Big-headed Turtle
- Mountain Gorilla
- Mountain Pygmy Possum
- Nubian Wild Ass
- Puerto Rican Parrot
- San Jose Brush Rabbit
- Saola
- Somali Wild Ass
- South-central Black Rhinoceros
- Sumatran Elephant
- Sumatran Orangutan
- Sumatran Rhinoceros
- Sumatran Tiger
- West Indian Ocean Coelacanth
- Western Gorilla
- Western Lowland Gorilla