15 Rarest & Critically Endangered Animals on Earth

 

• From strawberry tigers to hairy nosed marsupials• We count down 15 of the rarest near-extinct animals ever to walk the Earth15 - Javan Rhino • Also known as the "small-horned rhino"• It used to be found all over the islands of Java, Sumatra, parts of India and China• Today though, it's critically endangered - mainly due to poaching for its tiny hornused in Chinese medicine • The Southeast Asian wars also obliteratedmost of its habitat, so now Javan Rhino numbers barely exceed 4014 - Amur Leopard • These are found in the Primorye regionsof southeastern Russia • This is the only leopard subspecies adaptedto a cold, snowy climate • And according to a 2008 study, there areonly around 15 adults left in the wild • The reason? Poaching, encroaching civilisations,new roads, destruction of forests and climate change13 - Tarsiers • These are found on the islands of SoutheastAsia, which includes Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and The Philippines, but since they becamecritically endangered, you'll only really find them in Borneo• The reason they're so rare and cherised is that these Tarsiers are the only primatesalive who are 100% carnivorous • They mostly go after insects, but they'vealso been known to devour birds, bats, lizards and snakes12 - Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat • This is one of three species of wombatin existence • It used to live all over New South Wales,Victoria and Queensland, but in the last 100 years the population has been declining quiteharshly • The reason? It has to fight for its foodagainst popular domesticated animals like cow and sheep, so now just over 100 of thesewombats are left 11 - Western lowland gorilla• These live in central Africa, and also a wide area of the Congo jungles• These gorillas show the intelligence of a young child; they fashion tools to dig holes,they can learn sign language up to 1,000 signs, and we haven't yet discovered the full extentof their mental capacity • They endured deforestation, farming, grazingand expanding human settlements, but it was the Ebola virus in Africa that accounts for90% of the species extinction, only leading to just over 500 left in captivity10 - Okapi • This one looks like a strange zebra off-shoot,but in reality it's a distant relative of the giraffe, a VERY distant relative• It was first discovered in ancient egypt, the legend of an "african unicorn", and it'sconsidered a "living fossil" since it has no close living relatives, only those specieslong, long dead • Currently there are between 10 and 20,000thousand Okapi alive today 9 - Iberian Lynx• This is a carnivorous mammal native to the Iberian Peninsula, Southern Europe• It's numbers only total around 100 with the primary cause poaching of its main prey,the European rabbit, and the Lynx is physically unable to alter its diet• Numbers have also been reduced from habitat loss, car accidents, feral dog hunting andcertain types of illness 8 - Mountain Pygmy Possum• This is a small, mouse-sized marsupial found in the dense apline rock screes andboulder fields of Australia • It mostly feeds on fruits, nuts and seeds• And the reason it's so rare? Ski resorts were built on its habitats, that combinedwith climate change, death by feral cats and foxes and decline of the Bogong moth alsocontributed to the decline to less than 100 total7 - Sao Tome Shrew • These little guys are found only on SaoTome Island, a shield volcano off the Atlantic Ocean• They were first disovered in 1886, and they're endangered due to habitat loss, deforestationand a restricted range • Information on the shrews is limited andconservation is difficult because they're so well cut off from the world, leading peopleto believe they're closer to extinction than previously thought6 - Tamaraw (the Dwarf Water Buffalo) • This is a small hoofed animal that usedto roam the island of Mindora in the Philippines, but due to habitat loss from farming, cattleranching and the expansion of urban areas, they're numbers now only total about 300• Currently you can only find them in the Mount Iglit-Baco National Park, where they'reprotected from poaching and disease 5 - Philippine crocodile• Only one of two species of crocodile also found in the Philippines, it became criticallyendangered in 2008 due to exploitation and unsustainable fishing methods, which includesdynamite fishing, in which water is blown up to kill schools of animals for easy collection• As of today, there exists only about 250 specimens of this crocodile alive, and thereare laws prohibiting the slaughtering of crocodile in that country4 - Red Wolf • This is a cousin of the Gray Wolf, andfor a while during the 1980s it was believed the red wolf HAD gone extinct• But some turned up in captivity, around 20, and thanks to conservation that numberrose to over 200 with 100 living in the wild, though the environmental factors that causedto be nearly extinct still exist today - that their hunting grounds have become severelydepleted 3 - Hispid Hare• A type of rabbit from the southern foothills of the Himalayan mountains• It lives in tall grass but since mankind totalled its habitat and hunted a vast majorityof them, they're on the verge of extinction, just over 100 left in the wild• It's unlikely the species will survive moving forward2 - Golden Tabby Tiger • This one can ONLY be found in captivity,and its odd coat has had some to title it the "strawberry tiger"• Its species has been around since the early 1900s, and strangely enough they onlyappeared in areas with a heavy concentration of clay in the soil• As of today, less than 30 of these tigers are known to exist1 - The Pinta Island Tortoise • This species is so rare that only 1 individualwas found • It's one of the famous giant Galapagostortoises, and sadly they were hunted remorselessly over the years for meat• In the 1970s, an old male tortoise was found, believed to be the last of his kind, and theycalled him lonesome george • A huge number of attempts to get him toreproduce failed, and in 2012 he died • Though in that same year, 17 first genhybrids were discovered, bringing hope to that forever gone species.

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