Helping you keep extinctions in check

We connect people, openly and transparently, with the most effective and trustworthy organisations working to protect the world's most endangered species. By showing exactly who is doing the work, we aim to help donations reach the places they can do the most to stop extinctions.

Wherever we can, we also point you to campaigns, volunteering, animal adoptions and other actions that support recovery. That often means protecting and restoring habitat too, because no species can survive without the place it lives.

Every species page aims to give you what you need to understand that animal: how many are left, how the numbers have changed, what threatens it, and what you can do.

We focus on the animals at greatest risk of going extinct. The species directory lists them by population, starting with the smallest number left in the wild.

We treat the IUCN Red List as the ultimate authority on species status, populations and trends. Each page shows when the species was last assessed.

Some IUCN assessments are several years old, and numbers can change quickly. In those cases we use peer-reviewed publications and trusted specialist conservation organisations to give the best and most recent population estimate, and we name the source and date beside the figure.

For each species, we look for trusted organisations working across its whole conservation picture: field conservation, local NGOs, research, and captive breeding and release programmes.

Local communities and Indigenous peoples hold knowledge of their land that no outside group can replace, and their work often has the greatest lasting impact. We support local and Indigenous-led conservation wherever possible.

Our current criteria are set out on the organisations page. We plan to refine them over time, including clearer measures of impact as well as values.

No organisation pays to be listed, and no payment will ever affect which species we include, how they are ranked, or which organisations we recommend.

To keep the site running and growing, we may in future add income such as carefully chosen, conservation-friendly advertising or affiliate links. If we do, these will always be clearly labelled and kept separate from our listings and recommendations.

Population figures and facts come from cited sources: the IUCN Red List, peer-reviewed research and established conservation bodies. Each page lists its references so you can check them yourself.

When a species' legal protection or status changes significantly, we add a dated status update to its page and card.

If you spot a figure that is out of date or a detail that is wrong, please tell us using the suggestion form on the homepage. We review every suggestion and correct mistakes.

Extinction Check was founded by Maya, a sociopreneur, digital nomad and environmental advocate for the rights of nature.

Maya previously worked as a campaign organiser and fundraiser for Amazon rainforest protection, and has published peer-reviewed research on traditional medicine in the Amazon. She started Extinction Check to make it easier for anyone to find the rarest animals on Earth and back the people fighting to keep them here.