Philippine eagle Scientific name: Pithecophaga jefferyi Range: Philippine islands of Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, and Samar IUCN Red List status: Critically Endangered
Philippine eagles breed slowly, and fewer than 10 percent of juveniles make it to adulthood, so a captive-breeding program, run by the Philippine Eagle Foundation on Mindanao, gives a vital boost to numbers...
Saiga Scientific name: Saiga tatarica Range: Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan IUCN Red List status: Critically Endangered
Hunted for its meat and horns since prehistory, the saiga has proved incredibly resilient, thanks to its breeding prowess in the wild...
Chalice coral Scientific name: Echinophyllia aspera Range: Indian and Pacific Oceans IUCN Red List status: Least Concern
Seen now in close-up, these are the living polyps...
Frog eggs Scientific name: Agalychnis annae Range: Costa Rica IUCN Red List status: Endangered
The yellow-eyed tree frog is one of several neotropical species that lay their eggs on vegetation over still water during the rainy season...
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Indian gharial Scientific name: Gavialis gangeticus Range: India, Nepal; possibly also Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan IUCN Red List status: Critically Endangered
This is Makara...
Ploughshare tortoise Scientific name: Astrochelys yniphora Range: Baly Bay (northwest Madagascar) IUCN Red List status: Critically Endangered
Critical predicaments demand urgent measures...
White-bellied pangolin Scientific name: Phataginus tricuspis Range: Equatorial West, Central, and East Africa IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable
A young white-bellied pangolin...
Fireflies Scientific name: Family Lampyridae Range: Circumglobal, tropical/temperate latitudes IUCN Red List status: Not Evaluated
Fireflies—which are not flies, but beetles—create light through the controlled oxidation of an enzyme in the abdomen, and they can flash the light on and off...
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Yunnan snub-nosed monkey Scientific name: Rhinopithecus bieti Range: Yunnan (China), Tibet (southwest China) IUCN Red List status: Endangered
The combination of retroussé nose and puffy lips might suggest extreme cosmetic surgery in another primate, but in the snub-nosed monkeys it confers an otherworldly beauty...
Sea angel Scientific name: Gymnosomata Range: Oceans worldwide IUCN Red List status: Not Evaluated
Gareth Lawson, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has been studying sea angels and their related prey, sea butterflies...
We have entered into the sixth great extinction of the earth’s species, according to many biologists. The previous five were caused by natural events—meteorite impacts and global temperature change—but this latest is decidedly human-generated, primarily through habitat destruction. Around 20 percent of all species on the planet are now threatened with extinction. In this collection (with descriptions by conservationist Jonathan Baillie), photographer Tim Flach captures the personality and character of some of the earth’s most threatened denizens. He looks into the eyes of Philippine eagle; captures a curled-up pangolin—the most heavily trafficked mammal in the world; and immortalizes a forest full of glowing fireflies. Each image is a reminder of all we could lose if we don’t stand up for these creatures. –Andrea Gawrylewski