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Conservation Attention: Very Low

The western long-beaked echidna is one of the most mysterious mammals on Earth.

Conservation Attention: Good

The Critically Endangered western short-necked turtle is reported to be Australia’s most endangered reptile. Following extensive loss of habitat, fewer than 20 adults remained in the 1980s.

Conservation Attention: Good

The whale shark is the worlds largest living shark and the largest living fish in the sea. The largest individual recorded was 20m in length and weighed 42 tonnes! This charismatic gentle giant attracts researchers and divers alike.

Conservation Attention: Low

The white skate is one of the largest European skate species, reaching lengths of 2m. It lives on rocky and sandy bottoms up to a depth of up to 400m.

Conservation Attention: Medium

The White-bellied Heron is the second largest heron in the world, with adults standing at well over a metre tall.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Endemic to Brazil this beautiful, large kite is one of the world’s most endangered raptors.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

The white-edge whipray is a rare freshwater ray, named after the white strip around the edge of its disc. Its distribution is very patchy and limited to some river systems in Southeast Asia.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

The White-eyed River-martin is thought to be one of the most elusive species in the world.

Conservation Attention: Medium

The White-headed Vulture has undergone catastrophic declines in population number, with an estimate median decline in 96% over three generations (45 years)

Conservation Attention: Very Low

The White-shouldered ibis is a wading bird of the Threskiornithidae family, possessing the long, downward curved bill typical of this family.

Conservation Attention: Medium

The White-winged Flufftail is a very rare and tiny African bird which breeds north of the equator in Ethiopia and then migrates south to Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

The whitespotted izak, also known as the African spotted catshark, is a small endemic shark found off the coasts of South Africa, Mozambique and Madagascar. Not much is known about the biology or life history of this rare species.

Conservation Attention: Low

The Wild Camel, known locally as Khavtgai, can withstand drought, food shortages, and even radiation from nuclear weapons testing.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Wild’s egg frog was described in 2000, but little is known about this Critically Endangered EDGE species.

Conservation Attention: Medium

The Critically Endangered Williams’ dwarf gecko is characterised by a distinct sexual dichromatism: males have a bright and vibrant turquoise-blue body while females are greenish-bronze.

Conservation Attention: Medium

Also known as the slender hammerhead, the winghead shark is named after its exceptional cephalofoil hammer-shaped head which can be almost as wide as half its body length.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Unlike most reptiles which lay eggs externally, Xenosaurus platyceps is viviparous; the mother will give birth to live young which have developed inside her body!

Conservation Attention: Low

Yamashina’s ground gecko lives in an area of just 60km² and is confined to a single island (Kumejima), part of Japan.

Conservation Attention: Good

The enormous Yangtze giant softshell turtle is the world’s rarest turtle, with only three individuals thought to remain in the world. These extraordinary turtles are teetering on the brink of extinction.

Conservation Attention: Low

The baiji is probably the most threatened marine mammal in the world; with some saying that it is ‘functionally extinct’.

Conservation Attention: Low

The yellowbelly voiceless treefrog has not been recorded since the 1960s.

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Little is known about this rail’s breeding behaviour or ecology as it tends to be very reclusive.

Conservation Attention: Low

The zebra shark gets its name from the colouration of the juveniles, which have black and white striped markings. As they mature their colouration changes from stripes to spots and that is why they are also known as leopard shark!

Conservation Attention: Very Low

Zong’s odd-scaled snake is a member of the primitive family Xenodermidae, which diverged from all other living snakes some 8 million years before the extinction of the dinosaurs!