Visualized: The Most Endangered Animals in the World
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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.
