Updated IUCN Red List Highlights Species Threatened with Extinction

4 September 2016: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released the latest update to its ‘IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™' at the World Conservation Congress (WCC), taking place in Hawai'i, the US. The Red List reports the decline of great ape species and threats to other species from illegal harvesting and invasive species.

The Red List includes 82,954 species, out of which 23,928 are threatened with extinction, 855 are extinct, and 68 are extinct in the wild. The Red List classifies 5,107 species as critically endangered, 7,602 as endangered, 11,219 as vulnerable, and 5,323 as near threatened. It also includes categories for lower risk, least concern and species for which there is not sufficient data.