How many animals are endangered?
IUCN Red List data, updated August 9, 2026
Of the 6036 mammal species mapped here, 1364 are threatened with extinction: 238 Critically Endangered, 559 Endangered and 567 Vulnerable. A further 400 are Near Threatened and 789 lack the data needed to judge. Figures from the IUCN Red List, last refreshed August 9, 2026.
The Red List scale
Nine categories, seven of which sit on a scale of risk. Select one to see the species it contains.
Species in each category
How the Red List decides
A category is not an opinion. The IUCN assesses each species against five criteria, and a species enters a threatened category by crossing a measurable threshold on any one of them: the rate at which its population is falling, the size of its geographic range and how fragmented that range is, the number of mature individuals left, a very small or very restricted population, and a quantitative model of extinction probability.
That design has a consequence worth knowing. A widespread animal in steep decline and a naturally rare animal on one stable island can land in the same category for entirely different reasons — which is why the range map is worth looking at before drawing conclusions from the label alone.
Assessments are made by specialist groups, reviewed, and republished several times a year. The IUCN Red List publishes the full methodology and the assessment behind every species listed here.
Common questions
How many animals are endangered right now?
1364 of the 6036 mammal species mapped on Animal World Map carry a threatened category on the IUCN Red List — Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered. 238 of them are Critically Endangered, the last category before extinction in the wild. These counts are recomputed from the dataset, last refreshed August 9, 2026.
What does 'threatened' actually mean on the Red List?
Threatened is not a judgement call. It covers three categories — Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered — and a species enters one of them by crossing measurable thresholds: how fast the population is falling, how few mature individuals remain, how small the range is, and how fragmented it has become.
Is Data Deficient the same as safe?
No. Data Deficient means there is not enough information to assess the risk, usually because the species has never been surveyed. 789 species here fall in that category, and several animals were listed as Data Deficient right up to the moment they were found to be Critically Endangered.
How often does the Red List change?
The IUCN publishes several updates a year, each reassessing part of the list rather than all of it. A single species is typically reassessed every five to ten years, so a category can stay unchanged for a long time even as the situation on the ground moves.
Counts recomputed from the mapped dataset. Species data from the IUCN Red List, last refreshed on .