Endangered means a living thing,
a plant or animal, is in danger of
becoming extinct. That means
there will never be another of that
animal or plant again because
there would be no male and
female to have babies or to grow
more seeds.
A species is a group of living
things. Plants and animals all
belong to a species.
Species can become endangered
for two main reasons: loss of
habitat and diversity within
a species.
Did You Know…?
A cat belongs to the species felis
catus. A dog belongs to the species
canis lupus familiaris.
What do you think
endangered means?
What Is an Endangered Species?
What do you think
species means?

Natural Loss of Habitat
A loss of habitat can happen naturally. For
example, dinosaurs lost their habitat about 65
million years ago.
The impact of an asteroid striking the Earth
changed the Earth’s temperature and
dinosaurs were unable to adapt to a
new, cooler habitat.
Dinosaurs began to
become endangered and,
eventually, extinct.

Human Made Loss of Habitat
Humans can also impact on habitat loss.
Humans use land, where animals such as
rabbits would live, for new houses and
other buildings.
In the Amazon rainforest in South America,
humans have destroyed hundreds of
thousands of acres of trees to build cattle
ranches, logging sites and for other uses.
Removing trees affects species that use
them as habitats. The layers of forests
(such as the canopy, one of the top layers
of a forest) is a habitat for hundreds of
species of animals. When the trees are cut
down, this habitat is lost.
Without the species’
natural habitat, they
may have nowhere safe
to have their young or
have to find a new
habitat in unsafe areas.
These areas may be
closer to people or wild,
dangerous animals
which may attack them.

Diversity
Species are able to adapt (change) for their environment.
It is important that animals have young. To have a strong chance of
survival, they must breed with other groups to help reduce diseases. As the
number of a species gets smaller, they are unable to find new groups and
will breed within their group.
Loss of diversity can happen naturally. Cheetahs are an endangered
species native to Africa and Asia. These big cats find it difficult to
locate new groups to breed with. Now, they are unable to adapt
to changes in the environment as quickly as other animals and
so they find it more difficult to survive in the wild.
Humans can also play a part in loss of diversity by overhunting
and overfishing different species, so there are not as many
breeding groups for animals to have strong, healthy young.

Endangered: There is a very high
risk that the species in this group
will become extinct in the wild.
Critically Endangered: There is an
extremely high risk that the
species will become extinct in the
wild.
Extinct in the Wild: The only
remaining species left are in zoos
and nature parks. There are none
left in the wild.
Extinct: There are none of the
species left in the world.
Did You Know…?
As well as all the endangered
animals in the world, there are
more than 26 500 species of plant
which are in danger of becoming
extinct too. That’s a lot of plants!
The Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature known as the IUCN,
have created the Red List which puts all
species into groups. This is so that they
know which animals and plants are
in the most danger of dying out
completely and becoming extinct.

Endangered Alerts
Least Concern
Near Threatened
Vulnerable Species
Endangered Species
Critically Endangered Species
Extinct in the Wild
Extinct

Endangered Alerts
Least Concern
Near Threatened
Least concern is the lowest level of
conservation. Scientists believe
there are a large number of the
species and no worry for them in
the near future.
When a species becomes near
threatened, there is a worry it
will become threatened in the
near future.

Endangered Alerts
Vulnerable Species
Endangered Species
Critically Endangered Species
There are three threatened levels.
This looks at how quickly the species
are breeding, the amount of habitat
given to the species, total number of
species and chance of extinction.
This is looked at over 10 years or
three generations.
If the amount of that species has gone down between
30% and 50%, they are categorised as vulnerable.
If the amount of that species has gone down between
50% and 70%, they are categorised as endangered.
If the amount of that species has gone down between 80%
and 90%, they are categorised as critically endangered.

Endangered Alerts
A species is extinct in the wild
when it cannot be found in its
natural area anymore but can be
found in captivity.
Some animals that are extinct in
the wild:
• scimitar-horned oryx - a species
of antelope with long horns.
• black soft-shell turtle - a
freshwater turtle that exists
only in one man-made pond.
• Mt. Kaala cyanea - a large,
flowering tree native to Hawaii.
A species is extinct when the last
remaining member of a species has died.
Some animals that are extinct:
• The Cuban macaw was a tropical
parrot native to Cuba.
• Ridley’s stick insect was native to the
tropical jungle of the island of
Singapore.
• The Sri Lankan legume tree was only
native to the island of Sri Lanka.
Extinct in the Wild
Extinct

Endangered Species and People
When an animal is categorised as endangered,
governments can work together to protect and save
the species.
The brown pelican was taken off the endangered
species list in 2009. In 1970, it was estimated that only
10,000 brown pelicans were in the wild so they
were categorised as vulnerable.
Between 1970 and 1980, governments and
conservation groups worked together to help the
brown pelican recover.
In 1988, it was believed that the population of brown pelicans had
increased. Now, there are hundreds of thousands of brown pelicans and
they have moved into the category of least concern.

Where in The World Are These Endangered Species?
Blue Whale Black Rhino
Hawksbill
Turtle
Orangutan
Sumatran
Elephant
Amur Tiger

How Can We Help
• We could read the ingredients on bottles
and try not to use things made with palm
oil. Factories which make palm oil are
built in many animals’ habitats.
• We can use less plastic. Plastic bits
can end up in the sea and hurt or kill
living things.
• Grow plants in your garden or a
garden box to support the wildlife
where you live. This will help lots of
species like bees and other insects as
well as helping plants.
There are some things we can do to help endangered species.
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