Guide · updated
What conservation status means
The IUCN Red List categories in plain words, how many species on file fall in each, and what a status does and does not tell you.
What is a conservation status?
It is a judgement of how likely a species is to become extinct, made against published criteria. The most widely used system is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and its categories are the ones shown on this site.
What are the categories?
The categories run from Least Concern to Extinct. Three of them, Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered, are together called “threatened”.
- Least Concern LC
- The species is not currently at risk of extinction. 820 species on file.
- Near Threatened NT
- The species is close to qualifying as threatened. 102 species on file.
- Vulnerable VU · threatened
- The species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. 145 species on file.
- Endangered EN · threatened
- The species faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild. 87 species on file.
- Critically Endangered CR · threatened
- The species faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. 60 species on file.
- Extinct in the Wild EW
- The species survives only in captivity or outside its natural range. 1 species on file.
- Extinct EX
- No living individuals remain. 9 species on file.
- Data Deficient DD
- The species has too little data for its risk to be assessed. 13 species on file.
Why do most species have no status?
Most animal species have never been assessed. On a species page that shows as “Not recorded”. It says nothing about whether the species is common or rare.
Data Deficient is different: the species was assessed, and there was too little information to place it.
What does a status not tell me?
A category describes the species as a whole, worldwide. A species of Least Concern globally can be rare or protected in one country, and the reverse.
Categories are revised as assessments are redone. The site shows the category held in its sources on the date printed in the page footer, and links to the Red List for the current assessment.
Which tools help with this?
Browse and filter
Filter every species by group, classification, conservation status, size, country, photo or sound, and sort by name, weight or lifespan. Each filter mix has its own address you can share.
Lists and rankings
Rankings by one recorded value, such as weight or lifespan, each with a note on how it was ranked. A list appears only when enough species have that value.
What do the terms mean?
- IUCN Red List
- The global assessment of how close each species is to extinction, published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
- Threatened
- The collective term for the three Red List categories Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered.
- Least Concern
- Red List category for species assessed and found not to be at risk of extinction at present.
- Near Threatened
- Red List category for species close to qualifying as threatened, or likely to qualify soon.
- Vulnerable
- Red List category for species facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. The lowest of the three threatened categories.
- Endangered
- Red List category for species facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
- Critically Endangered
- Red List category for species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. The highest threatened category.
- Extinct in the Wild
- Red List category for species that survive only in captivity, in cultivation, or as populations well outside their natural range.
- Extinct
- Red List category for species of which no individuals remain.
- Data Deficient
- Red List category for species assessed but with too little information to judge their risk.
More guides
How to identify an animal you sawHow to read a species pageHow animals are classifiedWhy a country list is not a range mapKeeping a life listCiting and reusing what you find