At least 18,000 animal species globally are threatened with extinction: they’re listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority.
Sustained conservation efforts have resulted in rebounding numbers for many species, including populations of some wolves, whales, lizards and parrots. But many others are struggling to survive as they face habitat loss and fatal human-led pressures.
On Endangered Species Day on May 15, we’re highlighting some of these stories that Mongabay recently reported on.
Wolves are back in California’s wild
Gray wolves (Canis lupus) began to repopulate the western U.S. state of California in 2015, after several decades of local extinction.
Now, after dedicated rewilding efforts, an estimated 50 to 70 wolves roam the state, organized in at least 10 separate packs.
According to a 2013 poll, more than two-thirds of California’s voters supported the reintroduction of wolves to the wild, but some opinions have since shifted.
Between 2015 and 2024, wolves killed least 142 head of cattle, about 0.002% of California’s nearly 7-million-strong herd. This triggered one county to kill four wolves of a pack who had become reliant on livestock as a food source.
Some ranchers are now adopting nonlethal deterrents, such as faldry (strips of fabric hung on a fence), drones blaring loud music, and electric fences, to keep wolves at bay, reported Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman.
West African leopard population listed as endangered
The leopard population in West Africa has declined by 50% over the past two decades. About 350 mature individuals remain in the region, according to the latest assessment by the IUCN, prompting a reclassification of the West African population of leopards (Panthera pardus) from vulnerable to endangered on Oct. 9.
West African leopards are genetically isolated from those in Central Africa, with little interbreeding between the populations. They survive largely in fragmented protected areas across 11 West African countries.
“In Africa, the leopard is not doing too badly, but in West Africa it’s a different story,” Robin Horion, a field technician with U.S.-based NGO Panthera, told Mongabay’s Elodie Toto.
Rays need more attention
Rays are facing an extinction crisis that is being overlooked, scientists recently told Mongabay senior editor Philip Jacobson.
New estimates, from research that has not yet been peer-reviewed, suggest that around 191 million rays are killed each year, roughly twice the number of sharks.
About 36% of all ray species are threatened with extinction, rising to 69% for species that live in reefs.
“I think people, sadly, don’t really care as much about rays, unless they’re the big charismatic species,” Chris Mull, a marine ecologist at Dalhousie University in Canada, told Jacobson. “But there’s a huge diversity and fishing pressure and also extinction risk of a lot of these coastal species of rays.”
Banner image: The endangered reticulate whipray (Himantura uarnak) is hunted in the wild for its skin. Image © brudermann via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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