Ranked: The Most Endangered Animals in the World

The New Diplomat
Writer

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In the last decade alone, more than 460 species have been declared extinct. Expanding human activity is largely to blame for this rapid biodiversity loss.

This graphic shows the most endangered animals by numbers found in the wild, per estimates from the World Wildlife Fund UK.

Ranked: Critically Endangered Animals

There are only about 75 Javan Rhinos left in the wild. Once found between the eastern edge of the Indian subcontinent all the way to Indonesia, their numbers have been steadily reduced by hunting and encoraching human settlements. Now they can be found only at the Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia.

Rank Endangered Animals Estimated Number
Left in the Wild
Found in
1 🦏 Javan Rhino 75 Java, Indonesia
2 🐆 Amur Leopard 100 China & Russia
3 🐅 Sunda Island Tiger 600 Sumatra, Indonesia
4 🦧 Tapanuli Orangutan 800 Sumatra, Indonesia
5 🦍 Mountain Gorillas 1,000 DRC, Rwanda
& Uganda
6 🐬 Yangtze Finless Porpoise 1,000 Yangtze River, China
7 🦏 Black Rhinos 5,630 Kenya, Namibia,
South Africa
& Zimbabwe
8 🦧 Sumatran Orangutan 14,000 Sumatra, Indonesia
9 🐢 Hawksbill Turtles 23,000 Atlantic, Indian,
Pacific Oceans
10 🐘 African Forest Elephant 30,000* Congo Basin

Note: *Last estimate from 2013.

In fact, Indonesia’s rainforests, home to 17% of all birds, 12% of the world’s mammals, and 10% of all plants, have steadily decreased as the country’s population has surged.As a result, the country has already seen many species go extinct. It also currently has four animals on the WWF’s 10 most endangered animals list.

Aside from the Javan Rhino, this includes: the Sunda Island Tiger, and the Tapanuli and Sumatran Orangutans.

The Sunda Island Tiger is the smallest of all tiger species. Its Javan and Balinese counterparts have already been driven to extinction by hunting and habitat loss.

The Tapanuli and Sumatran Orangutans are two of the three great ape species found in Asia.

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