Conservation Attention: Very Low

The Assam Catkin Yew is a rare and enigmatic conifer native to the lush, forested regions of Northeast India. This understory tree thrives in the shaded and moist environments of subtropical forests, often found along stream banks and in ravines. It is distinguished by its unique catkin-like cones, from which it derives its name.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, also known as Sir David’s Long-beaked Echidna, is the smallest and probably most threatened of the three long-beaked echidna species. Echidnas and platypus are the only mammals to lay eggs.

Conservation Attention: Medium

Baird’s tapir is the largest indigenous mammal in Central America. Tapirs are a ‘primitive’ group that resemble the ancestor of rhinos and horses, and have remained morphologically similar for the last 35 million years.

Conservation Attention: Low

Despite the large size of the Banded Ground-cuckoo, this species is inconspicuous and not easy to observe.

Conservation Attention: Medium

This otherwise reclusive bird is best known for its elaborate courtship display, where the male’s black and white plumage is shown off to good effect in short arching display flights, as well as choreographed strutting – with fluffed up neck feathers and a head pumping action, to attract females.

Conservation Attention: Low

As its name suggests, the big-headed turtle has a disproportionately large head compared to its small body. Its head is so large, in fact, that it cannot be retracted into its shell!

Conservation Attention: Good

The black rhinoceros has four subspecies, one of which was declared extinct in 2011, with two others critically endangered.

Conservation Attention: Medium

Botsford’s leaf-litter frog was only described by science in 2013.

Conservation Attention: Medium

Cantor’s giant softshell is an exceptionally large freshwater turtle, with individuals known to reach over 1 metre in length and weigh more than 100 kilograms! Sadly, these extraordinary turtles are on the brink of extinction.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

In the late 1800s, this species was known from only two localities in Cebu, where it was incredibly rare.

Conservation Attention: Low

The Chacoan peccary is a pig-like mammal with a long, flexible snout and a coat of grey brown bristly fur, and is the largest of the three living species of peccary.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

There are perhaps no more than 1,000 individuals of the Endangered Chinese crocodile lizard — which is found in southern China and northern Vietnam — remaining in the wild today.

Conservation Attention: Good

The Chinese giant salamander is the world’s largest amphibian, growing up to 1.8 metres long, with a large tail comprising almost 60% of the body length.

Conservation Attention: Low

Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world, and the Chinese pangolin may be the most endangered of them all.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Following its discovery in 1964, the Colombian dwarf gecko had not been seen again until a new population was recently discovered more than 100 km from the original location.

Conservation Attention: Good

Ctenella chagius is a member of the small Meandrinidae family and is found exclusively in the Chagos Archipelago, Mauritius and La Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

The Cuban greater funnel-eared bat is the largest Caribbean representative of a small, ancient family of cave-dwelling bats that evolved in the West Indies.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

There have been numerous surveys to locate Du Toit’s torrent frog since its last record in 1962, but all attempts have failed to find the species.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

The dwarf crocodile is one of the world’s smallest crocodilians, rarely exceeding 2 metres in length. The taxonomy, distribution, population size and conservation status of dwarf crocodiles remains unclear.

Conservation Attention: Low

The East Himalayan Yew is a rare conifer found in Nepal, Bhutan, Northeast India, and Southwest China mountainous regions. This resilient tree is adapted to thrive in high-altitude forests’ damp, acidic soils, enduring some of the most challenging climatic conditions. Beyond its ecological importance and aesthetic beauty, the East Himalayan Yew is vital for its medicinal properties; it produces taxol, a crucial compound used in cancer therapies.

Conservation Attention: Low

The Critically Endangered El Rincon stream frog exists on a single plateau in Argentinian Patagonia. Though temperatures in the region often plummet below freezing, the frog avoids the cold by spending its life in streams whose waters are heated by permanent thermal springs.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Commonly named as the Elephant Skin Coral due to its wrinkly appearance, Pachyseris rugosa is a fairly common species on tropical reef systems within its range.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Gardiner’s Seychelles frog is one of the world’s smallest frog species, with adults reaching the size of just 1 cm! This species is ground-dwelling and forages at night for small invertebrates such as mites.

Conservation Attention: Good

The Critically Endangered gharial is an unmistakable crocodile on the brink of extinction. It has long, thin jaws which it uses to catch fish and males have a large, bulbous growth, known as a ‘ghara’, on the tip of their snout.