Norma Cogar Memorial Wildlife Center

IUCN Red LIst Categories

What is the IUCN Red List?

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is one of if not the leader in conservation worldwide. The Red List is the list of animals that are on the brink of extinction in the world. Below you can see a small description of each category on the Red List that NCMWC will use on this page. Please note that we are not including animals or plants within the following categories:

Data Deficeint (DD), Extinct in the Wild (EW), Extinct (EX), Not Evaluated (NE)

If you would like to use their categories, please ensure that you are noting that all of the categories were collected by crediting them using IUCN 2022-2.

Least Concern (LC)

These species have not qualified for listing as a species that may be in peril.

Near Threatened (NT)

These species are becoming troubled by human activies or environmental conditions but have not quite reached the level of certain concern for extinction.

Vulnerable (VU)

Species listed in this category are found to be facing extinction if conservation efforts are not started. There is still a fair amount of the species left, but those numbers are declining rapidly.

Endangered (EN)

Species in this category are facing a very serious threat of extinction. Conservation efforts are needed immediately to avoid extinction.

Critically Endangered (CE)

Speices in this category are facing an extremely high risk of extinction. Some of these species may in fact be extinct already but this has yet to be confirmed.

Monarch butterfly

IUCN 2022-2 Listing: Endangered (EN)

Range: Australia, Southern North America (Mexico and Florida) and other South Pacific Islands (residents), North America south of Alaska (breeding populations, southern parts of the US and Mexico excluded)

What is Causing The Concern?

Human Habitation: human buildling practices have destroyed viable habitat for these creatures. This includes polution, use of insecticides, and crops planted for human and pet consumption
Deforestation: logging has destroyed much of the original forest lands throughout their territory
Climate and Weather Changes: Global temperature changes and the rising number of severe weather events including drought, tornadoes, and hurricanes, has caused further reduction in the food source of the catepillars of these beautiful creatures

How Can I Help?

Reduce the use of chemical insecticides on your garden plants. Be especially careful if you plant native milkweed, the plant of choice for catepillar feeding.
Avoid planting Ornamental Milkweed. The catepillar will eat the leaves, but will not migrate as an adult, leading to disease and possible death
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Virtually any conservation activity can help these beautiful creatures!

Copyright © 2023 Norma Cogar Memorial Wildlife Center - All Rights Reserved. All trademarks and watermarks are the property of their respective organizations. No photos may be used without the express written consent of Norma Cogar Memorial Wildlife Center management.

Some photos may be used from various un-named sources with permission of the creators of the photos.

The use of the IUCN Redlist categories and logo on the Species Spotlight page are allowed by the IUCN Redlist. All IUCN data is consistant with update IUCN 2022-2

"Giving Wildlife A Second Chance" is a trademark of Norma Cogar Memorial Wildlife Center

Logos of organizations are the property of their respective organizations. Norma Cogar Memorial Wildlife Center uses these logos to denote memberships or to display information and links to their work.

Species Spotlight