25 More Animals That Are About To Go Extinct

I have dedicated my life to looking for animals that are beyond extinction and in some cases bringing a couple of them back. But there are still thousands and thousands of creatures across the planet that are facing extinction every single day. Today I'm going to be breaking down 25 animals that are on the edge of existence and giving you guys my analysis as to whether or not I believe they're going to beat extinction or be gone forever. Let's get into it. So first up is the Bengal tiger. Now Bengal tigers are interesting. They're found across India, Nepal, all over that region. Used to be a small population in China and Pakistan, but those subpopulations are extinct. These Bengal tigers, as you know, can grow up to 12 feet long and weigh over 700 pounds. They're truly one of the most magnificent cats in the world, but because of that they are endangered with estimates somewhere between around 3,700 and 4,300 left in the wild, most of which, up to 3,500 or so of those, are in India with a few hundred in Nepal, some in Bhutan, Bangladesh, so on and so forth. So why are these tigers in so much trouble? Well, once numbering in the tens of thousands, Bengal tigers have had this massive collapse since the 20th century because of habitat loss, because of ridiculous poaching for body parts, deforestation, tons of human-wildlife conflict, a loss of prey in areas that have had hunting, in some cases like the Sunderbar and Mangrove Islands, sea level rise has massively impacted them. So tigers are in this situation where there is just this sort of massive threat to them and Bengal tigers in specific are in the biggest amount of trouble. Now there are groups working to save the tiger, literally groups called Tiger Project Cat Save the Tigers Now. There are all kinds of different groups, but because these beautiful, amazing, giant cats are so regal, and they're so iconic, and there is so much good conservation taking place around ecotourism in India, I don't believe that the Bengal tiger is going to go anywhere. In fact, populations of Bengal tigers have actually started to bounce back in various regions. So between that and the fact that sadly there are more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild, I believe strongly that even though the Bengal tiger is on the list, it's not going to go extinct. Next up, the Asiatic lion. Now this is a sad story. Once widespread across the entirety of the Middle East, Arabia, Northern India, these magnificent Asiatic lions are now extinct in literally every part of their range except for India where they survive in one and only area in a place called the Gir Forest in Gujarat. Now you may have seen some of these crazy videos where Asiatic lions are literally coming into town and that's in Gujarat's town of Gir because there's so much habitat encroachment on Asiatic lions that people and lions are actually living alongside each other and people are walking and monitoring these lions. Believe it or not, there's not a lot of deaths from these animals, even though they grew up to 10 feet long and they can weigh 600 plus pounds, which is a little bit smaller than their African cousins. So I think Asiatic lions are absolutely beautiful, but sadly there are only around 900 or so of these lions left in the wild. Now when you think of that, you go, man, that sucks, there's only 900 of them left. But believe it or not, at the start of the 1900s, there was only about a dozen Asiatic lions left at all, which is absolutely insane to think that the conservation efforts that have gone into place have actually successfully brought this animal back from the edge of extinction all the way to having a semi-decent population of 900 or so in Gir in that one and only area. Now the issue with Asiatic lions is nothing to do with the lions, it's all to do with the habitat. Sadly, they've been hunted out, they've been wiped out, and most of their range has been destroyed, which is why the population is stable at 900 or so, but there's really nowhere for very many more to go. Places like Ventara, where you guys have seen videos on the channel, are working to breed the Asiatic lion, creating an insurance colony so that if and when there is more habitat available, those animals can be put back into that fragmented habitat, ideally to repair the ecosystem and care for it. I think Asiatic lions are absolutely incredible creatures. They have tons of threats, tons of problems, the biggest one being habitat, but I believe that these guys are in relatively good state. That said, there are things that can happen to these guys because a population of 900 or so can create issues, issues from canine distemper virus outbreaks, issues from other small genetic bottlenecking. These guys are not as safe, in my opinion, as the not-gonna-go-extinct, so I'm gonna move the Asiatic lion into the there's hope category. Next up, a beautiful little shark called the scalloped bonnethead. These guys are found in tropical Pacific waters, Mexico, Peru, all the way up into the Gulf of California, in Baja, California, one of my favorite places in the world. They're amazing. They have a purplish body with these yellow fin accents. They're a small shark. They only get up to three or so feet, which makes them very easy for fishermen to target, which is why this species, sadly, is critically endangered. So few have ever been documented that scientists consider it one of the rarest sharks alive. These guys are in trouble no matter how you slice it. While the scalloped bonnethead is critically endangered, it has this giant range. It's not out of the woods yet, but I don't believe extinction is a guarantee, nor do I believe that there's no chance, so it's going right in the middle in the serious trouble category. Ooh, next up, a beautiful creature, the mountain bongo. Now, mountain bongos are an isolated remnant population of the more regular bongo that lives in Kenya. Now, these guys only live in this tiny little mountainous area. They get up to 900 pounds or so. They're one of the largest forest antelopes in the world, but sadly, there's only around 100 to 150 of these guys left in the wild, and only a very small handful in captivity. So captive breeding is not likely to be super successful. Now, populations of these guys have crashed, and I mean plummeted, from logging, from snaring, from bushmeat hunting. There are tiny little herds that are fragmented, that are risking complete genetic erosion, meaning those guys cannot reproduce because they're so isolated. There's actually estimates from studies that say that small, isolated groups can lose up to 8% of genetic diversity per decade if left unmanaged, meaning if you're not able to bring these groups of mountain bongo back together in their extremely limited habitat, genetic bottlenecking can occur to the point of having collapse within each of those tiny little populations. So this animal's in big trouble, even though there are these tiny little herds still out there, so intervention is absolutely necessary. Now, sadly, poaching and hunting for the bushmeat and the horns continue so much so in that area, and now, maybe more than ever, dogs are being used on illegal hunting, which is just plummeting the population because this otherwise shy animal is being caught pretty quickly because it's really large. Now, luckily, some things are being done. The AZA, the Species Survival Plan, the Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, they're all working on breeding and re-releasing the mountain bongo, but with such tiny population and such ongoing hunting, these guys, in my opinion, really are on the edge of extinction. Next up, the dwarf crocodile, one of the coolest crocodilian species out there. They're found across tropical West Africa, Central Africa, but in regions where there's conflict and regions that have limited science, like Senegal, Angola, areas like that, and on top of that, they're crocodiles, so they're hiding in swamps, streams, mangroves, rainforests, all the hardest places to study, of course. Now, unlike most crocodiles, these guys are pretty small. They're only getting up to about six feet, and I think the heaviest ones on record are around 60 or 70 pounds, making it the smallest living crocodile in the entire world, which makes it incredibly cool. Now, these guys are vulnerable, because their numbers are falling in most areas due to hunting and habitat loss, even though, potentially, there could be some stable populations, because its range is relatively large, but not as large as it used to be, given that it was once common across Western Africa. So, in a lot of countries, like Gambia and Liberia, where it used to occur, it's likely already locally extinct, but nobody really knows, because there isn't enough science being done there now. They're nocturnal, they live in tiny burrows, they're the orange cave crocodiles, if you've ever seen that on that documentary in Gabon, where they get stained from bat poop and turn orange. I mean, they're a fascinating crocodilian, truly one of the coolest, but they live in poor areas, where bushmeat is required, hunting is rampant, people want leather. Basically, these crocodiles supply everything that someone who's starving could need, and because of that, they're in real trouble. Now, they are protected under CITES, but there's no enforcement in that part of the world, so being protected basically means nothing. That said, they're a crocodilian, they breed relatively easily in captivity, they're very, very cool, and I don't think that they're right on the edge. So, I'm going to add them in the there's hope category. We should be able to keep them around, the question is, can we protect them in the wild? Philippine eagle, wow, what an incredible creature, endemic to the Philippines, living on only a few little islands, it is the national bird of this beautiful country, and it's a big bird. I mean, they get three foot plus, they can weigh almost 20 pounds. They're one of the largest eagles on earth, but sadly, they're critically endangered. Now, there are population estimates up there, but they vary wildly. Everything from like 150 or so, up to 600 different eagles is what people estimate could be up there. Well, the problem with that is, collapse is not driven by the population with this species, it's driven by deforestation, and it's said that only around 1,000 or so square kilometers of old growth forest, which Philippines eagles seem to require to live in, and specifically pair up and breed in, is left in the Philippines, so their habitat has plummeted, and now the species is extremely rare, extremely hard to see in the wild, and people are finding rescued ones. In 2019, there were gunshot victims of Philippine eagles that people rescued, so sadly, even as their numbers plummet, people aren't realizing how incredible these animals are, and their issues. These guys, unlike others, are threatened by other crazy things, too, because I even read a story of Philippines eagles landing on power lines and getting electrocuted, because they didn't know what a power line was, and when you have a tiny little population, two or three eagles doing that can result in a devastating blow to the overall population, so really, really sucks. Beautiful bird, they've got those crazy spiky hairs, and they're an animal that we can breed. The Eagle Foundation breeding program, as of this year, has something like 30 chicks that they've worked on breeding, and are now working on reintroductions into the wild, so because of that, because the Philippines is pretty progressive with its conservation as of late, I believe that the Philippine eagle isn't out of the woods yet, but there's certainly hope. The blue whale, and you guys know what a blue whale are, they live in all the major oceans across the planet, they're beautiful, they're gigantic, they have been in trouble, but we are more conscious of whale conservation now than we ever have been in history, they're not being hammered for the whale oil industry, so on and so forth, I don't think that we are going to screw this one up, I don't think we're going to screw up the oceans enough, and we're not hunting them anymore, these guys are not going to go extinct, I'm standing by that, I don't want blue whales going anywhere. Alright, next up, the Hirola, also known by some as the Hunter's Heart of East, now these guys are beautiful, they're found only in Kenya, right along the Somali border, and apparently they used to be in Somalia, but they are gone now, they're a big animal, 6 foot long or so, 300 pounds, and critically endangered because there's only 300 or so of them left in the wild, and here's the worst part, none in captivity. There used to be a large population in the 1970s or so, they said there was 10-15,000 of them, and then they have just plummeted since then, making them one of the rarest antelopes in the world, so the fact that these guys' population is dwindling the way that it is, the fact that threats like disease, of rinderpest, and drought, and poaching, predation, where they live is a relatively poor area, a lot of rampant bushmeat trade, and no captive breeding, to me the Hirola is in big, big trouble, I never want to say extinction is guaranteed, because there is still somewhat of a population, so we'll put them on the edge of extinction, but let's hope somebody can do something, because these guys are in big, big trouble. A primate next, the Hainan Gibbon, it's an incredible animal, it's found only in one national reserve in China, and we all know China is not the best when it comes to conservation, so this has slowly and sadly become one of the rarest primates in the world, and it's such a beautiful little species too, so 3ft tall, 20 or so pounds, beautiful little animal, and sadly there are only about 22 individuals left of this entire species split into 2 tiny family groups. Now what's crazy is in the 1950s there were 2,000 or so of these guys, but today there's only 22 of them left in the wild, so few remain that a single storm, a typhoon, a disease, anything could wipe out this entire species, and I don't believe they're being bred in captivity, I think when it comes to the Hainan Gibbon, it may be too little too late, it's really hard to say, I never want to do this, but I actually sadly believe with this one, maybe not due to human causes now, like hunting, but because of everything they've gone through, because the population is so small, I kind of think this one has extinction guaranteed. The Wonderwood Tree Kangaroo, now these guys are awesome, we've talked about them before, they were a lost species, people didn't know if they were extinct or alive, beautiful animal, I don't think it was ever that rare, to be honest, I think what happened was it lived in such a remote region of Papua New Guinea, that even though they're believed to be critically endangered, we don't really know whether that estimate of 50 or so that's out there is true or it's false, and even though there was a couple specimens collected like in 1928, and the rediscovery came in 2018, the population may be very stable, it's really hard to know, it is considered one of the world's rarest mammals, I think that because these guys live in such a remote area, they're somewhat safe, that said, anything could threaten that, enough bushmeat trade, small tribes popping up there, anything could lead these guys towards extinction, so I'm putting them in the serious trouble category. Armored Leopard, they're so beautiful, these big leopards, they're cold climate adapted from Russia and China, they're literally the rarest big cat on earth, I mean they're so incredible, if you ever get a chance to see one in captivity, you absolutely should, now these guys used to have such a wide range spread out across eastern Siberia, all the way into China, but now the only remaining population lives in an area that's about 2700 square miles on the Russian-Chinese border, and of course they're critically endangered, with the population estimated to be around 20 or so individuals, and that was 10 or so years ago, 15 years ago, they believe that the population bounced back a little bit, now it's unsure, I don't think there is a recent species count, so these guys are kind of yo-yoing with the edge of extinction, and what's so sad about this one, is it's poaching more than anything that has led to this, because they have such a phenomenally beautiful coat, soft fur, all the things that people want, so because they've yo-yoed, it means that people are actively working on them, and the estimated population is to be around 150 or so individuals left now, but that is a very small population, that said, people are working actively to protect them, they could have gone extinct if they were going to go extinct, so I don't think they're fully out of the woods, I'm gonna put them in the dares hope. The southern ground hornbill, these guys are so cool, a large, silly looking woodland and savanna bird that grow 4.5 feet tall, that live in southern Africa, and they're awesome, they're listed as vulnerable globally, but in South Africa and neighboring countries, they are declining rapidly, so while they're not on the critically endangered list, they've disappeared from more than half of their former range due to habitat loss, which is a big, big deal that these guys are threatened the way they are, because the loss of nesting trees, the habitat destruction, the electrocution from power lines, poisoning, the very, very slow breeding rates that these beautiful birds have, all of this is contributing to a rapid decline of a bird, that really shouldn't even be on this list, so this is a weird one, because while it isn't listed as critically endangered, it's trending in a very, very bad direction, so these guys really are in serious trouble. Ethiopian wolf, wow, a species I've wanted to work on for so long, found only in the Ethiopian highlands, living about 10,000 feet in these cold Afro alpine grasslands, I mean, they're such a cool wolf species, such a unique dog, and sadly, there's only around 400 or so left of these guys, now, what's crazy is, there's so much that's happened to them, they've vanished from most of their northern ranges due to rabies outbreaks, agricultural expansion played into the fact as to why these guys disappeared, there's hunting, there's disease, and the worst of all, there's hybridization with domestic dogs, which has absolutely genetically destroyed this beautiful dog, and it's crazy, because they don't have a huge fear of people, so in Ethiopia, where these guys live, what you'll see is a whole bunch of village dogs, and then on the outskirts of the village, in these small isolated areas, an Ethiopian wolf will come trotting in and meeting up with the village dogs, and then hybridize with that village dogs, and that'll pass on disease, it'll eliminate the gene pool, it'll really just destroy the purity of what Ethiopian wolf was, I've even heard from some experts that there is no such thing as a pure Ethiopian wolf anymore, which I sure hope isn't true, but because of all this, because it's in Ethiopia, which is a country that has extremely limited conservation, in fact, my good buddy Dr. George is one of the only people doing active conservation in that country, I think that the Ethiopian wolf is pretty finished, I hope that somebody can get some samples out, maybe colossal biosciences could clone or create an insurance colony, but this is such a sad one, it really does go in the extinction guaranteed. So next up, the Panamanian golden frog, now these guys are so beautiful, little yellow frog black blotches that lived in the cloud forests of Panama, and they're a species that just shouldn't go extinct, but like so many amphibians, they have just been decimated by chytrid fungus, so in 2007, they were declared extinct in the wild, all due to chytrid fungus, but luckily, there are 50 or so institutions that are keeping them and breeding them in captivity, but they're only alive in captivity today, so chytrid fungus, habitat loss, pollution, all these things have played a huge part into the wild extinction of the Panamanian golden frog, but U.S. zoos, Panamanian zoos, they're keeping them alive, they're keeping them reproducing, and well, I don't know if this counts or not, because they'll likely never survive in the wild or succeed at surviving in the wild again, they're probably not going to go extinct as long as we have them in all these institutions, and we continue to reproduce them, so the list is about extinction, it's not about extinct in the wild, I'm going to put them in the not going to go extinct category. Japanese giant salamander, man, I love these things, if you haven't seen the video, we'll put a link to it here, I specifically went to Japan to find the Japanese giant salamander, because these are the second largest salamander in the world, they live in these cool fast flowing streams up in the mountains in incredible regions of Japan, I mean, it's a salamander, it gets five feet long and can weigh up to 60 pounds, it's absolutely insane how cool these things are, now, they're threatened in the wild, don't get me wrong, and their population has been declining rapidly for many, many years, but there are some incredible conservation initiatives in Japan, they're reproducing them readily, like an axolotl, you can breed them, you can see the eggs, if you have everything right, you can take care of them, the problem with Japanese giant salamanders is the Chinese giant salamander is a food item in China, they're basically, I think they're extinct in the wild, honestly, but the Japanese giant salamander has been hybridizing with the Chinese giant salamander, the Chinese giant salamanders were even brought over to Japan, which is genetically making the Japanese giant salamander head towards extinction, so it's a really sad story, there are still purebreds, they are still being bred in captivity, they're in serious trouble, one leak could really destroy it, so I'm going to put them in the serious trouble category, check out our video where we go searching for a Japanese giant salamander, if you haven't seen it, it's awesome. Next up, the radiated tortoise, now, these guys are awesome, they're native to one region only, and that's southern southwestern Madagascar, and they were introduced to Reunion and Mauritius, but really, they're isolated to the southern Madagascar area, beautiful shell patterning on this tortoise that can live up to 180 or so years old, one of the oldest living reptiles that there is, slow to reproduce, very vulnerable to being just sort of picked up and moved around in the wild, and it's because of that that populations absolutely collapse due to a massive amount of poaching, both for bushmeat and for the pet trade, now, sadly, in 2018, a thousand of them were confiscated from illegal export, mostly for the pet trade, so really, really sad thing, I mean, if you ever, ever hear of a wild collected radiated tortoise, please report that immediately, there are great institutions like the Turtle Conservancy, which is right up the road from me here, that rescue these animals and work to reproduce them, so beautiful animal, they are reproducing them in captivity, they are in the pet trade, even if they got there in a bad way, so because of that, I don't actually think that the radiated tortoise is going to go extinct. All right, next up, this says angel shark, now, there are 26 species of angel shark, so I'm going to say that this is the European angel shark, now, those guys are probably in the most amount of trouble, they occur from Norway to the Canary Islands, which is a huge diversity, if you think of the temperature variance, but that European angel shark, specifically, is critically endangered with populations down over 90% and likely extinct in a lot of areas like the North Sea, so they used to be really common, but because there was so much fishing and there's so much bycatch in trawlers and nets, they're now one of the rarest sharks in Europe, with only small individual surviving groups off of Wales and the Canary Islands, which is really, really sad, if you think of that giant spread between those two areas, where the two isolated populations likely will never, ever meet, now, there are conservation efforts for these sharks, they're fully protected in the UK and European waters, but it's kind of too little, too late, the Canary Islands population is well monitored, they see them daily, but if you think of a shark, they used to have a range like it did and where they are now, I don't know that they're going to go extinct, but they're certainly not all the way out of the woods, I'm going to put them in the there's hope category. All right, so next up, the Sumatran orangutan, you know what an orangutan is, beautiful great ape, specifically in Sumatra is where this population is from, they're particularly orange, those guys, they're critically endangered, so sadly, in Sumatra, where these guys live, there is so much palm oil, plantation monoculture, there's killing, there's pet trade, there's kind of everything going on over there, so these guys have just dwindled in population, but they're bred in captivity, the Bornean, the Sumatran, all of them are being managed at least a little bit to try and have a stable long-term population, there's monitoring going on, so I'm going to say that these guys, Sumatran specifically, because of the lack of infrastructure where they are, are on the edge of existence. Saiga antelope, I mean, it's a Star Wars animal, if you haven't seen it, I mean, they literally, during the last ice age, would roam across vast areas of Europe, Siberia, everything, alongside woolly mammoths, and now are confined to a tiny little range, their population is down 95%, but 95% still means there's over a million of them, but to give you an idea of how fragile they are, in 2015, a bacterial infection broke out, wiping out 120,000 of them in a single go in just a matter of weeks, so these guys are very, very vulnerable, they're very, very delicate because they're so ancient, they were near extinction in the 1920s, but they've rebounded due to people trying to save them, so beautiful creature, their threats, they have a lot of threats still with poaching, horns are used in medicine, there are those mass die-offs, like I mentioned, so they're in trouble, but because the population is as large as it is, I actually don't think that these guys are going to go extinct, so they're going in the bottom. Kakapo, these guys are cool, little flightless parrot that lives in New Zealand, that only survives on predator-free islands because New Zealand is such a disaster, where they've brought in so many possums and calves and things that can absolutely kill little flightless birds, the Kakapo is a perfect example of what happened in New Zealand, every flightless bird just went sprinting towards its demise when European settlers came in, and now there's only 230 or so of these Kakapo's left, which is down 51 or so of those since 1991, so the population just continues to suffer, even though they're well managed, that said, they are well managed, they're on these few islands, a big storm could absolutely wipe them out, but there's so much monitoring and ongoing work on Kakapo, there's so much predator control trying to manage cats, stoats, possums, rats, all the things that could easily munch these guys while they're trying to breed on the ground, and they have these crazy slow reproductive rates, that conservation efforts are really, really working, so they're not out of the woods, I wouldn't put them in not gonna go extinct, I would say there's hope for these guys. All right, axolotls, you know what these guys are, the hilarious little guild minecraft, a fully aquatic adult, but juvenile form of a salamander that lives in Mexico, specifically in one wetland just outside of Mexico City, where these connected lakes were, and they've collapsed, and that's all due to pollution, it's crazy, they're critically endangered, yet if you don't live in the state of California, you can go down to a pet store and buy one for 10 bucks, you put a pair of them in a fish tank, you're gonna get eggs, you're eventually gonna get babies, they breed like crazy, they're great pets, I'm very pro people having axolotl, unless you live in the state of California, I think they're awesome, don't need to say more about that, they're not gonna go extinct, we are breeding them so readily in captivity, they're not going anywhere. Borneo pygmy elephant next, now these guys are so cool, they're endemic to northeastern Borneo, and only on the island of Borneo, and they're a tiny little elephant, they grew up to eight feet at the shoulder, which if you think about an elephant is absolutely tiny, and they only live in this one region, now they're endangered, there was a 50% or so decline over the last 60 years of these guys, and they used to be widespread around Borneo, now they're only in this one little area, and all their habitat has been fragmented by again palm oil, logging roads, all those things that have just sort of destroyed much of Indonesia, so beautiful little creature, used to be tons of them, now fragmented habitat, now their population is dropping, these guys are in serious trouble. The Sunda pangolin, now all pangolins are in trouble, they're poached like crazy for their scales for eastern medicine, but if you're a pangolin and live in southeast Asia, where these guys do, you're in the most amount of trouble, because that is the closest to the source of where these animals are consumed as eastern medicine, now they're a smaller of the pangolin species, they're critically endangered, their wild population has absolutely collapsed due to trafficking, this beautiful creature that should be and was once widespread across southeast Asia, it's said that their population has declined over 80 percent, with most populations being functionally extinct outside of any protected reserves, but there are protected reserves, there are areas where these animals are still probably being poached and trafficked, I mean especially if you consider that they account for up to, or pangolins in general account for up to 20 percent of global illegal wildlife trade, but I think these guys are being managed very well in several of their areas, there's not a lot of bushmeat for these guys anymore, it's just the scales, people are caught onto it, videos literally like this one, not to toot my own horn, but of people trying to give attention to pangolin, have helped with anti-trafficking task forces and helped sort of general awareness of this species, so it's not in the not gonna go extinct, it is in serious trouble, but I do believe there's hope for this guy, so I'm gonna put him right there. Ganges river dolphin, I even went and saw the species, I was so excited, in the Brahmaputran river in India, it was incredible to see even though it was just little blips of their back, now they're so cool, it's a freshwater dolphin, they grow eight feet long, 300 or so pounds, and they're endangered, because in that river where they live, there's less than 3,500 individuals left in these fragmented populations, and you can see there's a theme here, anytime species are around, but they're fragmented into populations, all it takes is for that individual small population to collapse, and that's it, now that Brahmaputra river has been dammed, there's been construction, there's been water diversion, there's tons of pollution like lots of India, and now it's one of the world's rarest freshwater dolphins, surviving mainly in these tiny little isolated stretches, where there isn't a lot of development, now they're in trouble, they get entangled in fishing nets, there's all the other things I said, there's vessel strikes, there's sand mining, which I actually saw a sand mine when I was there, so when you put all these things together, in a country that is thinking more currently, I would say along its waterways, about industrialization, than it is about conservation, the Ganges river dolphin, an animal that's not going to be reproduced in captivity, is in big big trouble, so my opinion is that this animal, even though it's protected, if India doesn't change its laws about construction and pollution, and there's not enforcement, regardless of laws, then this guy sadly, is over time, not now, guaranteed extinction, which would be really awful. The Sichuan taquines, so taquines are crazy aggressive little mountain goats, we'll cut in a clip here of one trying to attack me at Ventara, and these ones specifically are native to the mountains of western China, in the Sichuan province, and they're crazy, all taquines are crazy, but it's a goat that grows four feet, can weigh 800 pounds, is super shy, and when it's not shy, it's mean and aggressive, has super powerful limbs, huge muscles, it's just such a cool animal, and sadly, they have this massively declining population, poaching is a big issue, like everything in China, human disturbance, they used to be super widespread, now they're in basically these tiny little areas, and they're super cold adapted, which means they live high up in the mountains, where there aren't as many people, but people will still go up there to poach for them, so between the fragmented habitat, the poaching, the development, the shrinking alpine habitat, due to the fact that it's getting drier in that part of the world, these guys are in big trouble, now they are protected under Chinese law, and they are in nature reserves, and in breeding programs, in zoos around the world, and they are successfully breeding, so while they are in big trouble, I do think that we're going to hang on to these guys, maybe not necessarily in the wild, so we'll end on a happy note with these guys not going to go extinct. Listen, this is kind of a heavy topic, extinction always is, but the point is that we understand, we learn about these animals, and we strive to protect them, do me a favor, like, comment, and subscribe, let me know what other list of near extinct animals you'd like me to make, take care.