Meet 17 of the world’s most endangered mammals

Gibbons are facing a dire threat to their existence, primarily due to habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade. Deforestation, driven by logging, agriculture, and infrastructure development, has decimated their tropical forest homes across Southeast Asia. As forests disappear, gibbons lose their sources of food and shelter.

The endangered gibbon species include the black-crested, Hainan black-crested, northern white-cheeked, and eastern black-crested gibbons. In fact, only about 30 Hainan black-crested gibbons remain in the world.

Gibbon populations are also heavily impacted by illegal wildlife trade, as they are often captured and sold as luxury pets. Conservationists in Asia are working to eradicate this practice, disrupting online wildlife trafficking networks and lobbying for stricter regulations.

Western chimpanzee

This subspecies of chimpanzee has been listed as critically endangered since 2016. The population of these chimps is heavily fragmented across Africa, making it hard to quantify the number of western chimpanzees left in the wild.

Western chimpanzees are a fascinating subspecies and have been observed crafting wooden spears to hunt down other primates, cracking open nuts with rocks, and playing in pools on hot days.

Their dwindling population faces daily threats from poachers and deforestation. The exotic pet trade also impacts western chimpanzees-for every baby chimpanzee that becomes a pet, it is estimated that ten are killed in the process.

IFAW works with other conservation organisations to fight the exotic pet trade.

Dama gazelle

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