The Red List

The IUCN Red List is the world's most comprehensive inventory of species' conservation status. It evaluates over 150,000 species and categorizes them from Least Concern through Vulnerable, Endangered, and Critically Endangered to Extinct.

The species that make headlines — tigers, pandas, rhinos, whales — represent a tiny fraction of threatened biodiversity. For every charismatic mammal on the endangered list, there are hundreds of insects, amphibians, and plants facing the same risk with almost none of the attention.