World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/spectacled-bear): Spectacled Bear — wildlife guide.

## Is the spectacled bear the inspiration for Paddington Bear?
The spectacled bear is the species behind Paddington's Peruvian origins, but the character did not begin with a real bear. Michael Bond was inspired by a toy bear he bought near Paddington Station in 1956; the 'Darkest Peru' setting and the spectacled-bear association were chosen later, once it was noted that bears are not native to Africa. Wild spectacled bears are shy and largely solitary, active mostly around dawn and dusk, and rarely encountered by people.

## What does a spectacled bear eat?
Despite being classified within the order Carnivora, spectacled bears are largely herbivorous — roughly 90–95% of their diet is plant material. They eat bromeliads (including the leaf bases and hearts), palm hearts, orchid bulbs, tree bark, and fruit, and occasionally insects, honey, and small animals. Their robust, short-faced skull and strong jaw muscles let them bite through tough fibrous vegetation that other animals cannot access.

## How many spectacled bears are left?
The IUCN estimates roughly 2,500–10,000 mature individuals, with a decreasing population trend; a figure of around 18,000 total animals is widely repeated but is a popular upper estimate rather than the IUCN's mature-individual count. In its 2017 assessment the IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable (criteria A4cd) and projects a reduction of more than 30% over three generations (about 30 years) if current habitat loss continues.

## How big is a spectacled bear?
Adult males weigh roughly 100–200 kg and females about 35–82 kg, standing around 60–90 cm at the shoulder with a head-and-body length of about 1.2–2.0 m. Males can be substantially larger than females, a clear example of sexual dimorphism.

## How long do spectacled bears live?
In the wild they typically live around 20–25 years. They live longer in captivity; the documented record is 36 years 8 months.

## Is the spectacled bear the same as the Andean bear?
Yes. 'Spectacled bear' and 'Andean bear' are two common names for the same species, Tremarctos ornatus. 'Andean bear' is increasingly preferred in conservation literature, while 'spectacled bear' refers to the pale rings that often mark the face.

## Do spectacled bears really attack livestock?
Occasionally, but less frequently than farmers believe. Conflict studies suggest that pumas and feral dogs account for a substantial share of livestock losses in spectacled bear habitat, and losses are often misattributed to bears. That misattribution increases retaliatory killing and makes conflict harder to resolve.

## Where do spectacled bears live?
Spectacled Bears live in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia. The spectacled bear is South America's only bear species and the last surviving short-faced bear; the IUCN lists it as Vulnerable, threatened by deforestation, conflict with farmers, and the illegal wildlife trade.

## Are spectacled bears dangerous?
Spectacled Bears are not generally dangerous to people. The spectacled bear is South America's only bear species and the last surviving short-faced bear; the IUCN lists it as Vulnerable, threatened by deforestation, conflict with farmers, and the illegal wildlife trade. Give wild individuals space and do not corner or handle them.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/elephant): Elephant — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Asian elephants are Endangered; their main threats are habitat loss and human-elephant conflict, while African elephants also face poaching for the illegal ivory trade.

## Introduction
Asian elephants are Endangered and declining. Across Southeast Asia they are snared, poisoned, and shot as crop raiders where shrinking forest habitat pushes them onto agricultural land, while Africa's elephants face ongoing poaching for the illegal ivory trade. Wire snares set for deer and wild pigs are a serious and growing threat to ground-dwelling wildlife across Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia, and elephants caught in them suffer crippling foot and trunk injuries. WARN focuses current elephant funding on partner-led veterinary rescue in Indonesia and Malaysia, where every animal saved matters disproportionately to a slow-breeding, declining population.

## Takeaway
The Asian elephant is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with an inferred population decline of at least 50% over roughly three generations (about 60–75 years), driven mainly by habitat loss and fragmentation.

## Takeaway
Across Vietnam, Cambodia, and parts of Indonesia, wire snares set for deer and wild pigs maim and kill ground-dwelling wildlife; elephants caught in them suffer severe foot and trunk wounds that can prove fatal.

## Takeaway
Human-elephant conflict is a major source of elephant deaths in much of South and Southeast Asia — for example, Sri Lanka recorded thousands of elephant deaths over the past decade, most of them human-caused.

## Takeaway
Prominent tusks occur mainly in some male Asian elephants; many males are tuskless or carry only short 'tushes', and tusked bulls are specifically targeted by ivory poachers.

## Takeaway
Elephants have a gestation of about 22 months — the longest of any land mammal — and calves are weaned around 5 years, so population recovery is inherently slow.

## Takeaway
Captive elephant welfare in tourist camps, logging operations, and religious institutions across Southeast Asia remains a major ongoing welfare concern.

## The Snare Crisis in Southeast Asia
Across Vietnam, Cambodia, and parts of Sumatra, wire snares set by hunters to catch deer, wild pigs, and other animals maim and kill wildlife at an alarming rate. Snares are cheap, durable, and set in vast numbers — surveys in heavily hunted forest have found high snare densities across protected areas. They are described as the single biggest threat to ground-dwelling mammals in the region. Elephants are large enough that many snares fail to hold them, but those that do cause crippling foot and trunk injuries: foot snares force elephants to shift weight abnormally, leading to progressive joint deterioration and, in some cases, death. WARN keeps this regional context live for education while current partner-network funding focuses on Indonesia and Malaysia.

## Human-Elephant Conflict
As forest is cleared and agricultural land expands into elephant range, conflict becomes increasingly common. Elephants raid crops — research on human-elephant conflict documents devastating losses to smallholder farms — and people respond with electric fences, firecrackers, and in some cases poison or weapons. Retaliatory killing is a significant source of elephant mortality in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and parts of Africa; in Sri Lanka, government data show only a small fraction of elephant deaths are natural. Effective mitigation requires early-warning systems, compensation schemes that make non-lethal tolerance economically viable for farming households, and land-use planning that maintains wildlife corridors between forest patches.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/elephant): Elephant — wildlife guide.

## The Ivory Trade After the Ban
CITES listed the African elephant on Appendix I in 1989, effectively banning the international commercial ivory trade, and poaching fell sharply afterward (the Asian elephant had already been on Appendix I since 1975). But trade never stopped entirely, and a resurgence in the 2000s — driven by rising demand in China and weakened enforcement in several African range states — caused a sharp spike in African elephant poaching. The African forest elephant is now Critically Endangered and the African savanna elephant Endangered. China closed its domestic ivory market at the end of 2017, demand fell, and poaching has trended downward since the mid-2010s, though it remains a concern in parts of Africa. Illegal sales have also shifted from physical dealers to encrypted messaging apps, making detection harder.

## WARN work
WARN focuses current elephant rescue funding on Indonesia and Malaysia, supporting partner-led veterinary response, snare-wound treatment, and humane coexistence work while keeping wider range-country threats visible for education.

## Donation hook
An elephant's pregnancy lasts nearly two years and a calf depends on its herd for years more, so every injured or orphaned elephant WARN's partner vets treat in Indonesia and Malaysia matters disproportionately to a declining population. Your gift funds the field veterinary response, snare-wound care, and humane-coexistence work that keeps these elephants alive long enough to breed.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/elephant): Elephant — wildlife guide.

## How many elephants are left in the world?
The IUCN estimates roughly 40,000–50,000 wild Asian elephants (Endangered). For Africa, the savanna elephant numbers around 350,000 (Endangered) and the forest elephant was revised upward to about 135,000 in a 2025 DNA-based assessment (Critically Endangered). All three are in long-term decline.

## How much does an elephant weigh?
Adult Asian elephants typically weigh about 2,000–5,000 kg, with large bulls reaching around 5,400 kg. African savanna elephants are bigger still — bulls can exceed 6,000 kg, making them the heaviest living land animal.

## How long do elephants live?
Wild elephants can live roughly 60–70 years. Lifespan is shorter in some captive settings; the median life expectancy for captive female Asian elephants is around 47 years.

## Do all elephants have tusks?
No. In African elephants both sexes usually grow visible tusks. In Asian elephants, prominent tusks occur mainly in some males; many males are tuskless or carry only short 'tushes', and many females have small tushes that rarely show beyond the lip.

## Why are elephants killed as crop raiders?
Elephants need large amounts of food and range over wide areas. As forest is cleared for farmland, they increasingly encounter crops, and a single raid can wipe out much of a smallholder's harvest. Without compensation or effective deterrents, killing the elephant can be a rational economic response for a struggling household — even though it is illegal.

## Do elephants really have good memories?
Yes. Peer-reviewed research shows elephants have strong long-term memory for individuals, locations, and threatening events. Matriarchs carry spatial knowledge of water sources and refuge areas that their herds depend on, and elephants can distinguish specific human voices and groups. This intelligence also means trauma — capture, translocation, or loss of family — causes lasting psychological harm.

## How many muscles are in an elephant's trunk?
Around 40,000, and it contains no bone at all. That muscular hydrostat lets an elephant uproot a tree or pick up a single blade of grass, and serves as nose, hand, hose, snorkel and social signalling organ.

## How do elephants communicate over long distances?
With infrasonic rumbles below the range of human hearing, which travel several kilometres through air and ground. Elephants detect them through their feet and trunk as well as their ears.

## Are elephants self-aware?
Asian elephants are among the small number of species that have passed the mirror self-recognition test, alongside great apes, dolphins and magpies.

## What is the difference between Asian and African elephants?
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are smaller, with smaller rounded ears, an arched back, and two 'fingers' at the trunk tip; prominent tusks occur mainly in some males. African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) are larger, with big fan-shaped ears, a saddle-shaped back, and tusks usually in both sexes. The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is a third, distinct species recognised since 2021, smaller and found in Central and West African rainforest.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/street-dog): Street Dog — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
An estimated 200 million street dogs live worldwide; they are the same species as pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), and WHO-endorsed Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return programmes are the proven humane way to reduce their numbers and control rabies, whereas culling does not work.

## Introduction
Roughly 200 million dogs live free-roaming lives on the world's streets, concentrated across Asia, Africa and Latin America. The domestic dog is not a wild animal in trouble — it is a domesticated subspecies that the IUCN does not assess for extinction risk (its wild ancestor, the grey wolf, is listed Least Concern). The real crisis is one of welfare and public health. For more than a century the default response to street dogs has been mass culling, a practice the World Health Organization condemns as ineffective at controlling either dog numbers or rabies. Humane alternatives work: Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (CNVR) programmes stabilise populations, build rabies herd immunity and end the cycle of killing.

## Takeaway
The World Health Organization and WOAH endorse humane dog population management — sterilisation plus mass vaccination — over culling, which they state does not control rabies.

## Takeaway
Mass culling increases population turnover and does not reduce overall numbers: surviving dogs breed faster and new animals move into cleared territory (the 'vacuum effect').

## Takeaway
Vaccinating at least 70% of a dog population, repeated annually, builds herd immunity and breaks the rabies transmission cycle — culling without vaccination is epidemiologically ineffective.

## Takeaway
Street dogs are the same species and subspecies as pet dogs; most are mixed-ancestry village or pariah-type dogs rather than recognised breeds.

## Takeaway
Free-roaming dogs are human-commensal scavengers that live largely on food waste, so reducing accessible refuse is part of long-term population control.

## Takeaway
Municipal mass culling of street dogs continues in cities such as Karachi despite high human rabies burdens, where reported dog-bite cases run into the tens of thousands each year.

## Why Mass Culling Doesn't Work
Mass culling has been the default response to street dog populations for over a century because it looks like immediate, visible action. The evidence shows it neither reduces dog numbers over time nor controls rabies. When dogs are removed from a territory, surviving dogs breed more rapidly and new animals move in from surrounding areas, so the population rebounds — often within months. Dogs reach breeding age by around six to twelve months and can produce up to two litters a year, which lets numbers recover quickly. Meanwhile the vaccination coverage needed to break rabies transmission is never reached, because animals are being killed rather than immunised. The World Health Organization has long advised that culling free-roaming dogs is not effective for rabies control and favours sterilisation and vaccination instead.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/street-dog): Street Dog — wildlife guide.

## How CNVR Works
A well-run CNVR programme catches dogs humanely, neuters them under anaesthetic, vaccinates them against rabies and returns each dog to the territory it came from. The neutered, vaccinated dog then acts as a barrier: it holds its territory against incoming unvaccinated animals, its immunity contributes to herd protection, and it produces no more puppies. Over roughly three to five years of sustained operation, population density falls, vaccination coverage rises above the 70% threshold needed to interrupt rabies, and human bite numbers decline. The approach is also called TNVR (Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return); the two terms describe the same method. Multi-year sterilise-and-vaccinate programmes in Indian cities such as Jaipur and in Colombo, Sri Lanka, have published reductions in dog numbers and in rabies and bite incidence.

## Biology, Diet and Reproduction
A street dog is simply a domestic dog living a free-roaming life — the same subspecies, Canis lupus familiaris, as any pet. Most are mixed-ancestry 'village' or 'pariah-type' dogs rather than pedigree breeds. They are opportunistic omnivores and scavengers, surviving mainly on human food waste, market scraps and handouts, which is why uncontrolled rubbish accumulation drives up local dog numbers. Females come into season about twice a year, carry a litter for roughly 63 days (about 58–68 days) and typically produce four to six puppies. Owned dogs commonly live 10–13 years, but free-roaming street dogs live far shorter lives — often only around three to four years on average — because of road traffic, disease, parasites and poor body condition. This combination of fast breeding and human-subsidised food is exactly why removal alone cannot control populations.

## Street Dogs in Pakistan
Pakistan carries one of the most severe human rabies burdens in the world, with tens of thousands of people treated for potential rabies exposure every year — Karachi alone reports tens of thousands of dog-bite cases a year. Municipal responses in Karachi and other cities have involved poisoning and shooting of street dogs, a practice condemned by international public-health and welfare bodies as ineffective and inhumane. WARN supports partner organisations delivering CNVR in Pakistan's largest cities, demonstrating that a humane, evidence-based alternative is both practical and effective at scale.

## WARN work
WARN funds CNVR operations in Pakistan's major cities, supports mobile veterinary units for field neutering and rabies vaccination, and trains local veterinary and animal-welfare staff in humane CNVR delivery.

## Donation hook
Every street dog WARN's partners catch, neuter, vaccinate against rabies and return is one fewer litter on the streets and one more vaccinated dog protecting its neighbourhood — the proven alternative to the cull. Your gift funds the mobile veterinary teams doing this work in Karachi and other partner cities.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/street-dog): Street Dog — wildlife guide.

## What is CNVR and does it work?
CNVR stands for Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return. Dogs are humanely caught, neutered under anaesthetic, vaccinated against rabies and returned to their territory. Over time the neutered, vaccinated population stabilises and declines while herd immunity to rabies builds. The World Health Organization endorses sterilisation-plus-vaccination over culling. Multi-year programmes in Indian cities such as Jaipur and in Colombo, Sri Lanka, have documented falling dog numbers and reduced rabies and bite incidence.

## Why doesn't culling work for street dogs?
Culling creates a 'vacuum effect': removing dogs from a territory triggers increased breeding in survivors and immigration of new animals from surrounding areas, so the population typically rebounds to its original size within months. Dogs breed from around six to twelve months of age and can have up to two litters a year, so gaps fill faster than killing empties them. Crucially, culling without vaccination does nothing to control rabies, because the 70% coverage needed to break transmission is never reached when animals are removed rather than immunised.

## How is rabies transmitted from dogs to humans?
Rabies is transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal, almost always via a bite. The World Health Organization reports that dogs are responsible for up to 99% of human rabies cases worldwide. The virus travels along peripheral nerves to the brain, and once symptoms appear the disease is almost invariably fatal. The most effective prevention is mass vaccination of the source dog population, supported by prompt treatment of bites.

## Are street dogs dangerous?
Most street dogs are not aggressive toward humans in normal circumstances. Dogs tend to become dangerous when sick (including with rabies), when protecting puppies or food, when in pain, or when approached in a threatening way. Veterinary and welfare literature indicates that neutering can reduce roaming and certain types of aggression, and that managed, vaccinated populations are associated with fewer bites than unmanaged ones.

## Can street dogs be rehomed?
Some can. Dogs socialised with humans from an early age and temperamentally suited to home life make good companions. But the sheer scale of the global street-dog population — around 200 million animals — means rehoming cannot be a population-management strategy on its own. CNVR addresses the root cause; rehoming is a valuable supplement, not a substitute.

## How long do street dogs live?
Free-roaming street dogs typically live far shorter lives than owned pets — often only around three to four years on average — because of road traffic, disease, parasites and poor nutrition. A well-cared-for owned dog usually lives about 10–13 years.

## What do street dogs eat?
Street Dogs eat Omnivorous scavenger; mainly human food waste (human-commensal). An estimated 200 million street dogs live worldwide; they are the same species as pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), and WHO-endorsed Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return programmes are the proven humane way to reduce their numbers and control rabies, whereas culling does not work.

## Where do street dogs live?
Street Dogs live in Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia. An estimated 200 million street dogs live worldwide; they are the same species as pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), and WHO-endorsed Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return programmes are the proven humane way to reduce their numbers and control rabies, whereas culling does not work.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/street-dog): Street Dog — wildlife guide.

## How big is a street dog?
A Street Dog is about Free-roaming ~3–4 yrs avg; owned dogs ~10–13 yrs. An estimated 200 million street dogs live worldwide; they are the same species as pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), and WHO-endorsed Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return programmes are the proven humane way to reduce their numbers and control rabies, whereas culling does not work. Conservation status: Domesticated subspecies — Not Evaluated by IUCN (grey wolf: Least Concern).


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/tiger): Tiger — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest living cat species, a striped, solitary carnivore native to Asia; the Sumatran tiger of Indonesia and the Malayan tiger of Malaysia are two of the most endangered surviving populations, both listed as Critically Endangered.

## Introduction
The tiger is the largest of all wild cats, a solitary ambush predator instantly recognised by its orange coat and black stripes. Across its Southeast Asian range, two of the rarest populations survive in the World Animal Rescue Network's partner countries: the Sumatran tiger of Indonesia and the Malayan tiger of peninsular Malaysia. Both are now classed as Critically Endangered, with only a few hundred individuals left between them.

## Takeaway
The tiger is the world's largest cat species; the Sumatran tiger is the smallest surviving tiger subspecies.

## Takeaway
Both the Sumatran tiger (Indonesia) and the Malayan tiger (Malaysia) are listed as Critically Endangered.

## Takeaway
The whole species Panthera tigris is assessed as Endangered by the IUCN (2022), but several subspecies are far closer to extinction.

## Takeaway
Fewer than 600 Sumatran tigers and roughly 80–120 mature Malayan tigers are thought to survive in the wild.

## Takeaway
Tigers are solitary, territorial ambush hunters that prey mainly on wild boar and deer.

## Takeaway
Poaching for illegal trade, habitat loss to plantations, and prey depletion are the main threats driving their decline.

## Why tigers are endangered
Tigers once ranged across much of Asia, but have lost the great majority of their historic range and now occupy fragmented pockets of forest. The Sumatran tiger survives only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where lowland rainforest has been cleared at speed for oil-palm and acacia pulp plantations, isolating tigers in shrinking habitat patches. The Malayan tiger, confined to peninsular Malaysia, has collapsed from thousands of animals in the mid-twentieth century to an estimated 80–120 mature individuals, driven largely by intensive snaring and poaching for the illegal wildlife trade. Because both populations are small and fragmented, each loss matters enormously, which is why the IUCN classes both as Critically Endangered even though the species as a whole is listed as Endangered.

## Behaviour and ecology
Tigers are solitary and strongly territorial, with individuals patrolling large home ranges marked by scent and scratch marks. They are ambush predators that hunt mainly at night, relying on stalking and a powerful rush rather than long pursuit, since they can only sprint over short distances. Wild boar and various deer make up the bulk of the diet, supplemented by smaller mammals and occasionally larger prey. Females raise cubs alone: after a gestation of roughly 100 days they give birth to a litter of typically two to four cubs, which stay with their mother for around two years while they learn to hunt. Unusually among big cats, tigers are strong swimmers and readily enter water to cool off or cross rivers.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/tiger): Tiger — wildlife guide.

## Threats and what rescue involves
The most acute threat is poaching: tigers are killed for their skins, bones and other body parts traded illegally across Asia, and even small numbers of losses can push a tiny population toward collapse. Wire snares set in the forest are a particular danger, maiming or killing tigers and their prey indiscriminately. Habitat loss and the depletion of prey animals compound the problem, and tigers that stray into farmland can be killed in retaliation after attacks on livestock. On-the-ground rescue and protection work focuses on anti-poaching and snare-removal patrols, rapid response to human-tiger conflict, rehabilitation of injured or orphaned tigers, and protection of the forest corridors that connect isolated populations.

## WARN work
The World Animal Rescue Network (WARN CIC) is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation that funds local partner shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams across its partner network. Two of those network countries, Indonesia and Malaysia, are exactly where the Critically Endangered Sumatran and Malayan tigers make their last stand, so tigers sit squarely within our funded focus. We channel support to frontline partners working on anti-poaching patrols, snare removal, conflict response and the care of injured or orphaned tigers, and pair that with wider public education about the illegal wildlife trade that drives the killing. We are honest about our stage and scale: our role is to fund and amplify trusted local teams in our range countries rather than to run tiger reserves ourselves.

## Donation hook
Indonesia and Malaysia are both World Animal Rescue Network range countries, so a gift to the Tiger Appeal helps fund the local partner teams pulling snares, responding to conflict and caring for injured tigers where Sumatran and Malayan tigers make their last stand.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/tiger): Tiger — wildlife guide.

## How many tigers are left in the wild?
Globally a few thousand wild tigers survive. Among the most endangered populations, fewer than 600 Sumatran tigers remain in Indonesia, and the IUCN estimates only about 80–120 mature Malayan tigers survive in Malaysia.

## Why are Sumatran and Malayan tigers endangered?
Both are driven toward extinction mainly by poaching for the illegal wildlife trade, the spread of snares, loss of forest habitat to plantations, and depletion of the wild prey they depend on.

## How big is a tiger?
Tigers are the largest cats on Earth. Sumatran tigers, the smallest surviving subspecies, reach about 2.2–2.5 m in length and weigh roughly 100–140 kg for males and 75–110 kg for females.

## What do tigers eat?
Tigers are carnivores that hunt mainly large ungulates such as wild boar and deer, and will also take smaller mammals and other prey when available.

## How long do tigers live?
Wild tigers usually live around 10–15 years, while tigers in managed care can live up to about 20 years.

## What is a baby tiger called?
A baby tiger is called a cub. Litters are typically two to four cubs after a gestation of around 100 days, and the cubs stay with their mother for about two years.

## Do tigers have striped skin?
Yes. The stripe pattern is mirrored in the pigmented skin beneath the fur, so the markings would still be visible if a tiger were shaved.

## Can tigers swim?
Tigers are strong, willing swimmers, unusually so for a cat. They enter rivers to cool down and cross water to move between fragments of forest habitat.

## How far can a tiger's roar be heard?
Up to about three kilometres in good conditions. Part of the sound falls below the range of human hearing, which is why a tiger's roar is often described as felt as much as heard.

## Are tigers dangerous to people?
Tigers generally avoid humans, but they are powerful predators and conflict can occur where forest and farmland meet, especially when prey is scarce; such encounters sometimes lead to tigers being killed in retaliation.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/markhor): Markhor — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A markhor (Capra falconeri) is a large wild goat native to the mountains of Central and South Asia, famous for the males' long, twisting corkscrew horns; it is Pakistan's national animal and is currently listed by the IUCN as Near Threatened.

## Introduction
The markhor is a large wild goat of the rugged mountains of Central and South Asia, instantly recognised by the spectacular spiralling horns of the males. Pakistan's national animal, it was once pushed toward the brink by hunting and habitat loss. Today, community-led conservation has helped its numbers recover enough for the IUCN to downlist it from Endangered to Near Threatened.

## Takeaway
The markhor is the world's largest wild goat species and the national animal of Pakistan.

## Takeaway
Males grow dramatic spiral or corkscrew horns that can reach around 160 cm; females have much shorter horns.

## Takeaway
It lives on steep, rocky mountain slopes from roughly 600 to 3,600 metres, moving between elevations with the seasons.

## Takeaway
Community-based conservation programmes in Pakistan turned local people from poachers into custodians, helping populations recover.

## Takeaway
The IUCN downlisted the markhor from Endangered to Near Threatened in 2015 after numbers stabilised and rose.

## Takeaway
It is a vital prey animal for the endangered snow leopard, making its recovery important for the wider mountain ecosystem.

## Why the markhor was threatened
For decades the markhor was driven down by unregulated hunting, poaching for its prized horns and meat, competition with domestic livestock for grazing, and human disturbance across its narrow mountain range. By the late 20th century several subpopulations had collapsed and the species was classified as Endangered. Because markhor live in small, fragmented groups on isolated mountain massifs, local losses could not easily be replaced by animals moving in from elsewhere, leaving the species especially fragile.

## Behaviour and ecology
Markhor are superbly adapted to vertical terrain, using their cloven, rubbery-soled hooves to cross cliffs that deter most predators. Females and young live in herds of roughly nine animals, while mature males are largely solitary outside the winter rut, when they clash horns to compete for mates. They graze on grasses in spring and summer and switch to browsing leaves, twigs and shrubs in autumn and winter, sometimes rearing onto their hind legs to reach branches. As one of the few large prey animals in their range, they help sustain predators such as the snow leopard.

## A community conservation success
Pakistan's community-based trophy-hunting and conservation model, developed from the 1990s, gives mountain villages a direct financial stake in keeping markhor alive. A large majority of the revenue from a small number of tightly regulated, science-quota permits flows back to local communities, funding schools, clinics and ranger patrols, while villagers monitor and protect the herds. The result has been a marked turnaround: poaching fell, numbers grew by an estimated fifth over a decade in key areas, and the largest subpopulation in Chitral now exceeds 1,000 mature animals — the evidence behind the 2015 downlisting.

## What protecting markhor involves
Securing the markhor's future means sustained, on-the-ground work: trained local rangers patrolling against poaching, careful population counts to set safe quotas, managing competition with domestic goats and sheep, and keeping migration corridors open between mountain blocks. Because the gains are recent and the total population is still modest, this protection has to be continuous — a single bad season of poaching or disease can undo years of recovery in a small subpopulation.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/markhor): Markhor — wildlife guide.

## WARN work
The World Animal Rescue Network (WARN CIC) is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation that funds local partner shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams across its partner network. The markhor's core range sits within Pakistan, one of WARN's funded-focus countries, so supporter donations are directed to local Pakistani partners working on mountain wildlife protection, anti-poaching support and community education, rather than to distant overheads. Where markhor populations cross borders into neighbouring countries beyond the countries where WARN's partners work, WARN's role is wider awareness and education rather than direct funding — an honest reflection of a young organisation backing local people who know the terrain best.

## Donation hook
The markhor's recovery proves what happens when mountain communities are backed to protect their own wildlife. By supporting WARN, you help fund local partners in Pakistan who keep that work going — patrol by patrol, herd by herd.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/markhor): Markhor — wildlife guide.

## How long do markhor live?
Markhor typically live about 11 to 13 years in the wild, and a similar 10 to 13 years in captivity.

## What do markhor eat?
They are strict herbivores. In spring and summer they mainly graze on grasses, and in autumn and winter they browse on leaves, twigs and shrubs, sometimes standing on their hind legs to reach branches.

## How big do markhor get?
Markhor are the largest wild goats. Head-and-body length is roughly 132–186 cm, shoulder height about 65–115 cm, with males weighing around 80–110 kg and the smaller females about 32–50 kg.

## Are markhor dangerous to humans?
No. Markhor are shy, wary wild goats that flee from people across steep terrain. Males' large horns are used for fighting rivals during the rut, not for attacking humans.

## How many markhor are left?
The total population is estimated at roughly 5,000–6,000 animals. Numbers have been rising in key areas, and the largest single subpopulation, in Pakistan's Chitral region, exceeds 1,000 mature individuals.

## Why is the markhor Pakistan's national animal, and why was it threatened?
The markhor is Pakistan's national animal as a symbol of its mountain wilderness. It was threatened by poaching, hunting for its horns, livestock competition and habitat disturbance, which had pushed it to Endangered before community conservation helped it recover to Near Threatened.

## What is a baby markhor called?
A baby markhor is called a kid, the same as the young of other goats. Females usually give birth to one or two kids after a gestation of about 135–170 days.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/snow-leopard): Snow Leopard — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is a large wild cat native to the high mountains of Central and South Asia, recognised by its pale grey rosette-patterned coat and very long tail, and listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

## Introduction
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is a large cat of the high mountains of Central and South Asia, built for life among bare rock, snow and altitude. Famously elusive, it haunts ridgelines from 3,000 metres upward, including the peaks of northern Pakistan. With fewer than 3,400 mature adults thought to remain across a vast but fragmented range, it is one of the world's least-seen big cats.

## Takeaway
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is a high-altitude big cat of Central and South Asia, not a true subtype of the common leopard despite the shared name.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable; it was downlisted from Endangered in 2017, a decision some scientists still contest given how little of its range has been reliably surveyed.

## Takeaway
Fewer than about 3,400 mature adults are estimated to survive, and the population trend is decreasing.

## Takeaway
Unlike lions and tigers, snow leopards cannot roar; their throat anatomy produces chuffs, mews and growls instead.

## Takeaway
Its enormous tail — almost as long as its body — aids balance on cliffs and wraps around the body as a built-in scarf in sub-zero cold.

## Takeaway
In northern Pakistan, retaliatory killing after livestock losses is a leading threat, making community coexistence work central to the cat's survival.

## Why the snow leopard is threatened
The snow leopard is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, with a decreasing population trend and fewer than 3,400 mature adults estimated across its range. It was moved from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2017 because surveys suggested the global decline was slower than once feared, but the change remains debated: only a tiny fraction of the species' rugged range has ever been sampled with reliable methods, so all global figures carry real uncertainty. Threats are stacking up rather than easing. Wild prey such as blue sheep and ibex are being squeezed by competition with domestic herds and by poaching, pushing cats toward livestock. Retaliatory and opportunistic killing, the illegal trade in pelts and bones, infrastructure pushing into mountain valleys, and a warming climate shifting the treeline upward all chip away at habitat that is already naturally sparse and slow to recover.

## Behaviour and mountain ecology
Snow leopards are solitary, mostly crepuscular hunters adapted to some of the harshest terrain any cat occupies. Dense, pale, rosette-marked fur, wide fur-covered paws that work like snowshoes, an enlarged nasal cavity that warms thin cold air, and a thick metre-long tail used for balance and warmth all equip them for cliffs and cold. They are ambush predators, using broken rock and ridgelines to stalk wild sheep and goats, supplementing larger kills with marmots, pikas, hares and game birds. Individuals range over very large territories — often hundreds of square kilometres in poor-prey areas — and communicate by scent-marking and scrapes rather than by roaring, which their anatomy does not allow.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/snow-leopard): Snow Leopard — wildlife guide.

## Snow leopards in northern Pakistan
Pakistan's northern mountains — Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining ranges — hold an important slice of the global population, with national estimates commonly cited in the low hundreds of cats. Here the central conservation challenge is human-wildlife conflict. When a snow leopard enters a corral and kills sheep, goats or yaks, the loss can be financially devastating for a herding family, and the cat is sometimes killed in return. Effective responses pair predator-proof corrals, livestock insurance or compensation schemes, and community-based monitoring so that a living snow leopard becomes worth more to a valley than a dead one. This coexistence-first model is where local rescue and conservation partners do their most important work.

## What rescue and protection involve
For a wide-ranging, low-density cat, real protection rarely looks like a cage. It looks like keeping wild prey abundant, securing livestock so conflict never starts, responding when an animal is injured or trapped, and intervening against the trade in skins and bones. Rescue partners train and equip herding communities, build predator-proof enclosures, run compensation funds that defuse the impulse to retaliate, and support rangers who monitor remote valleys. Because the snow leopard crosses national borders along the world's highest mountains, durable gains depend on local teams on the ground backed by sustained funding and cross-border cooperation.

## WARN work
WARN CIC is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation that funds local partner shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams across its partner network. Pakistan is one of the snow leopard's twelve range nations, so this species sits squarely within WARN's funded focus: supporting Pakistan-based partners who tackle human-wildlife conflict, build predator-proof corrals, run livestock-compensation schemes and respond to injured or stranded cats in the northern mountains. The snow leopard's full range stretches across Central Asia beyond WARN's countries, so outside Pakistan WARN's contribution is education and awareness rather than direct funding — we are honest that our on-the-ground money follows our partners, and for snow leopards that means the high valleys of northern Pakistan.

## Donation hook
In northern Pakistan a single snow leopard can be killed in retaliation for one night's lost livestock. Your gift helps WARN fund the Pakistani partner teams building predator-proof corrals and compensation schemes that let mountain communities and snow leopards survive side by side.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/snow-leopard): Snow Leopard — wildlife guide.

## How long do snow leopards live?
In the wild snow leopards typically live around 10–12 years, and sometimes longer; in captivity they can reach roughly 20 years or more.

## What do snow leopards eat?
They are carnivores that mainly hunt wild mountain sheep and goats such as blue sheep, ibex, markhor and argali, plus smaller prey like marmots, pikas, hares and game birds. Where wild prey is scarce they may take domestic livestock.

## How big is a snow leopard?
Adults weigh roughly 25–55 kg (about 55–120 lb), with a head-and-body length of around 90–120 cm and a tail nearly as long again at 80–100 cm — making the tail one of the longest, relative to body size, of any cat.

## Are snow leopards dangerous to humans?
No. Snow leopards are shy and elusive, and there are no reliable records of them preying on people. Conflict with humans is almost always about livestock losses, not attacks on people.

## How many snow leopards are left?
The IUCN estimates roughly 7,400–8,000 snow leopards in the wild, of which about 2,710–3,386 are mature breeding adults. These figures are uncertain because so little of the species' range has been reliably surveyed.

## What is a baby snow leopard called?
A baby snow leopard is called a cub. Litters usually contain one to three cubs after a gestation of about 90–100 days, and the cubs stay with their mother through their first winter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/jaguar): Jaguar — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A jaguar (Panthera onca) is a large spotted big cat native to the Americas — the largest cat on the continent and the third-largest in the world — known for the strongest bite of any big cat and a habit of killing prey by piercing the skull.

## Introduction
The jaguar (Panthera onca) is the biggest cat in the Americas and the third-largest in the world, after the tiger and lion. Built for ambush in rivers, wetlands and rainforest, it kills with the most powerful bite of any big cat — strong enough to pierce a caiman's hide or crack a turtle shell. Though still listed as Near Threatened overall, jaguars have vanished from roughly half their historic range, and most populations outside the Amazon are already endangered.

## Takeaway
The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and the third-largest big cat in the world, behind only the tiger and lion.

## Takeaway
It has the most powerful bite of any big cat for its size, and uniquely kills by piercing the skull or shell of its prey.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists the jaguar as Near Threatened (assessed 2017) with a decreasing population trend.

## Takeaway
Around 89% of all jaguars live in the Amazon; most populations elsewhere are Endangered or Critically Endangered.

## Takeaway
Jaguars eat more than 85 prey species, including capybara, peccary, caiman and turtles.

## Takeaway
Habitat loss, prey depletion, and killing in retaliation for livestock losses are the biggest threats.

## Why the jaguar is in trouble
The jaguar carries a global IUCN status of Near Threatened, but that single label hides a stark divide. The species has been lost from roughly half its historic range, and its assessed range fell about 20% in little more than a decade. The reason the overall status is not worse is the Amazon: the vast Amazonian subpopulation holds an estimated 57,000–64,000 mature jaguars — close to 89% of the world total — and is the only subpopulation rated Least Concern. Almost every population outside it is fragmented and rated Endangered or Critically Endangered. As a result the IUCN suspects a 20–25% decline in mature jaguars over the past three generations (about 21 years), and the trend is still downward.

## Behaviour and ecology
Jaguars are solitary, territorial ambush hunters most at home near water — riverbanks, swamps, flooded grassland and dense forest. They are strong swimmers and unusually comfortable hunting in and around rivers, taking caimans, capybara, peccary, fish and turtles among more than 85 recorded prey species. Their signature is the killing bite: rather than suffocating prey at the throat like most big cats, a jaguar often bites straight through the skull or pierces a turtle's shell, using jaw muscles powerful enough to give it the strongest bite of any big cat for its body size. The largest jaguars of all are found in open wetlands such as Brazil's Pantanal, where males can be far heavier than forest-dwelling cats.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/jaguar): Jaguar — wildlife guide.

## Threats
Three pressures drive the decline. First, habitat loss and fragmentation: as forest and wetland are cleared for cattle, soy and infrastructure, jaguar populations are cut off from one another and lose the room a wide-ranging predator needs. Second, prey depletion from hunting, which empties habitat that still looks intact. Third, direct killing — jaguars are shot in retaliation when they take livestock, and despite a CITES Appendix I ban there is renewed illegal trade in jaguar teeth, skulls and skins. Connecting protected areas through habitat corridors and reducing conflict with ranchers are central to keeping populations viable.

## What rescue and protection involve
Saving jaguars is mostly about people and land, not captivity. The work includes protecting and linking core habitat, supporting ranchers to prevent and tolerate livestock losses, funding ranger patrols and camera-trap monitoring, and rehabilitating orphaned or injured cats for release where possible. Because a single jaguar may range over hundreds of square kilometres, conservation has to operate at landscape scale and across borders — which makes locally led teams who know the terrain and the communities essential.

## WARN work
The World Animal Rescue Network (WARN CIC) is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation that funds local partner shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams across its partner network. The jaguar sits squarely inside two of those countries: Brazil holds the largest jaguar population in the Americas, and Colombia roughly a fifth of the world's remaining jaguars. Our funded focus is backing partners on the ground in Brazil and Colombia — supporting habitat protection, anti-poaching and human-wildlife conflict work, and the rehabilitation of orphaned or injured cats. The jaguar ranges across some eighteen countries from Mexico to Argentina, so beyond our two funded countries our role is wider public education and awareness rather than direct field operations.

## Donation hook
Most of the world's jaguars live in Brazil and Colombia — the two range countries where we fund local partner teams. A donation to the Jaguar Appeal helps those teams protect habitat, ease conflict with ranchers, and rescue orphaned cubs on the ground.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/jaguar): Jaguar — wildlife guide.

## How big is a jaguar and how much does it weigh?
Jaguars are the largest cats in the Americas. Males typically weigh about 56–96 kg (123–212 lb), with exceptional individuals reaching around 158 kg; females are usually 10–20% smaller. Head-and-body length runs about 1.1–1.85 m, plus a 45–75 cm tail.

## How long do jaguars live?
In the wild jaguars rarely live beyond about 11–15 years. In captivity they can reach roughly 22–23 years.

## What do jaguars eat?
Jaguars are pure carnivores and opportunistic hunters with more than 85 recorded prey species, including capybara, peccary, deer, caiman, fish and turtles. Their powerful bite lets them kill larger or armoured prey other cats avoid.

## Are jaguars dangerous to humans?
Jaguars generally avoid people and attacks on humans are extremely rare. They are powerful wild predators, but conflict almost always involves livestock rather than people.

## How many jaguars are left in the wild?
There is no single precise global count, but the largest subpopulation — in Amazonia — is estimated at 57,000–64,000 mature individuals, about 89% of the world total. The IUCN classes the species as Near Threatened with a decreasing population.

## Why are jaguars threatened?
The main drivers are habitat loss and fragmentation, depletion of their prey, and direct killing in retaliation for livestock losses, alongside illegal trade in their parts. Jaguars have already disappeared from about half their historic range.

## What is a baby jaguar called?
A baby jaguar is called a cub. Litters are usually one to two cubs (occasionally up to four) after a gestation of about 91–111 days, and cubs stay with their mother for around 1.5–2 years.

## Where do jaguars live?
Jaguars live in Brazil, Colombia. A jaguar (Panthera onca) is a large spotted big cat native to the Americas — the largest cat on the continent and the third-largest in the world — known for the strongest bite of any big cat and a habit of killing prey by piercing the skull.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/komodo-dragon): Komodo Dragon — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is the world's largest living lizard, a venomous monitor species native to a few islands in eastern Indonesia that can grow to about 3 metres long and 70-90 kilograms.

## Introduction
The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard alive today, a heavyweight monitor that can exceed three metres in length and ambush prey as large as deer and water buffalo. It survives only on a few small islands in eastern Indonesia, where a shrinking, fragmented population now numbers in the low thousands. Backed by a venomous bite and a fearsome reputation, it is nonetheless one of the planet's most range-restricted large predators.

## Takeaway
It is the largest living lizard on Earth, reaching roughly 3 metres and up to 166 kg.

## Takeaway
The entire wild population lives on just a few Indonesian islands - Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Nusa Kode.

## Takeaway
The IUCN reassessed it from Vulnerable to Endangered in 2021, citing a small, declining population and climate-driven habitat loss.

## Takeaway
Fewer than about 1,400 mature individuals are estimated to remain in the wild.

## Takeaway
Komodo dragons have venom glands that produce anticoagulant venom, causing prey to bleed and go into shock.

## Takeaway
Females can occasionally reproduce without a mate through facultative parthenogenesis, producing only male offspring.

## Why it is endangered
In 2021 the IUCN moved the Komodo dragon from Vulnerable to Endangered. The decision reflected a tiny global range, a fragmented population spread across several island subpopulations, and an estimate of fewer than 1,400 mature individuals, with no single subpopulation holding more than around 500. The biggest emerging concern is climate change: rising sea levels and warming are projected to shrink the low-lying coastal savanna habitat the species depends on, with modelling suggesting steep habitat loss in the coming decades. Because the dragon cannot simply move to new ground, this island confinement that once protected it now leaves it acutely exposed.

## Behaviour and ecology
Komodo dragons are apex predators of their islands. Adults are ambush hunters that take large mammals such as Timor deer and wild boar, while also scavenging carrion detected with their forked tongues from kilometres away. A bite delivers venom from glands in the lower jaw that prevents blood clotting and lowers blood pressure, helping bring down prey far larger than the dragon itself. Juveniles, vulnerable to being eaten by adults, spend their early years up in trees eating insects, small lizards and birds. Females lay roughly 20 eggs, often in megapode mounds or self-dug nests, which incubate for around seven to eight months.

## Threats on the ground
The most direct pressures are loss and degradation of habitat, declines in the wild prey the dragons hunt, and human disturbance across a range that overlaps with growing tourism and development. Poaching of prey species such as deer reduces the food base, and the dragon's small, isolated subpopulations make any local loss hard to reverse. Layered on top is the longer-term threat of sea-level rise eroding coastal feeding grounds. With so few animals and such a confined range, even modest additional losses carry outsized risk.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/komodo-dragon): Komodo Dragon — wildlife guide.

## What rescue and protection involve
Protecting Komodo dragons centres on safeguarding their habitat and prey within and around their island range, monitoring subpopulations, reducing human-wildlife conflict, and supporting the local communities who share these islands. Practical conservation work includes patrolling against poaching of prey animals, managing tourism pressure, caring for injured or displaced wildlife, and habitat restoration. Because the species exists nowhere else on Earth, on-the-ground stewardship in Indonesia - led by local teams - is the front line for its survival.

## WARN work
Indonesia is one of the countries where our network funds local partner shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams, so the Komodo dragon's home range sits squarely within our funded focus. We channel support to in-country partners working on wildlife protection, habitat stewardship and the care of injured or displaced animals, rather than operating our own facilities. For a species found only on a few Indonesian islands, that partner-funded model - paired with wider public education about why these dragons matter - is how we aim to help.

## Donation hook
Komodo dragons exist nowhere on Earth but a few Indonesian islands - one of the countries where our network funds local rescue and conservation partners. A gift toward habitat protection helps the people on the ground keep their islands, prey and predators intact.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/komodo-dragon): Komodo Dragon — wildlife guide.

## How big do Komodo dragons get?
Komodo dragons are the largest living lizards, reaching about 3 metres (roughly 10 feet) in length. The largest verified specimen measured about 3.13 metres and weighed 166 kg, though wild adults more typically weigh around 70-90 kg.

## How long do Komodo dragons live?
Wild Komodo dragons are thought to live around 30 years, and individuals in managed care have lived considerably longer, with some reaching their fifties or beyond.

## What do Komodo dragons eat?
They are carnivores and apex predators. Adults hunt and scavenge large prey such as deer, wild boar and even water buffalo, while juveniles eat insects, small lizards, birds and eggs.

## Are Komodo dragons dangerous to humans?
They are powerful venomous predators and can be dangerous, so people should keep their distance. Attacks on humans are rare but do happen, which is why visitors in their range are always accompanied by trained guides.

## How many Komodo dragons are left in the wild?
The IUCN estimates fewer than about 1,400 mature individuals, within a total wild population thought to be a few thousand animals when juveniles are included. All of them live in eastern Indonesia.

## What is a baby Komodo dragon called?
A baby Komodo dragon is called a hatchling. Hatchlings are only about 40 cm long and spend their first years living in trees to avoid being eaten by larger dragons.

## Where do komodo dragons live?
Komodo dragons live in Indonesia. A Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is the world's largest living lizard, a venomous monitor species native to a few islands in eastern Indonesia that can grow to about 3 metres long and 70-90 kilograms.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/borneo-pygmy-elephant): Borneo Pygmy Elephant — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A Borneo pygmy elephant is the smallest subspecies of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis), native to the island of Borneo in Sabah, Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia; the IUCN listed it as Endangered in 2024 with about 1,000 left in the wild.

## Introduction
The Borneo pygmy elephant is the smallest subspecies of elephant on Earth, found only in the northeastern forests of Borneo across Malaysia's Sabah and a sliver of Indonesia's Kalimantan. Gentler-faced and rounder than its mainland Asian cousins, it has been isolated on the island for hundreds of thousands of years. In June 2024 the IUCN formally assessed it as Endangered, with roughly 1,000 individuals remaining as forests give way to plantations.

## Takeaway
It is the smallest of all elephant subspecies, with a notably round body, oversized ears and a tail that can nearly brush the ground.

## Takeaway
Found only on Borneo, almost entirely in the Malaysian state of Sabah, with a small population across the border in Indonesian Kalimantan.

## Takeaway
The IUCN assessed it as Endangered in June 2024, estimating about 1,000 individuals, of which roughly 400 are breeding adults.

## Takeaway
Around 60% of its forest habitat has been lost in the past four decades, mainly to logging and commercial oil-palm planting.

## Takeaway
Habitat fragmentation forces elephants into farms and plantations, fuelling human-elephant conflict that can be deadly for both sides.

## Takeaway
Like all Asian elephants it is listed on CITES Appendix I, banning commercial international trade in the animal or its parts.

## Why it is endangered
In June 2024 the IUCN Red List classified the Borneo elephant as Endangered for the first time, estimating roughly 1,000 animals with only about 400 breeding adults. The population is judged to have declined by at least half over the last three generations, a span of some 60 to 75 years. The single biggest driver is habitat loss: around 60% of the elephants' forest has disappeared in just four decades, cleared for timber and for the vast oil-palm plantations that now blanket lowland Borneo. Roads, settlements and plantation boundaries slice the remaining forest into pieces, cutting elephants off from food and from one another.

## Behaviour and ecology
Borneo pygmy elephants live in close-knit family herds led by the oldest female, the matriarch, who carries the group's memory of feeding grounds and water. They are bulk plant-eaters, feeding mainly on grasses but also stripping leaves, bark, roots, shoots and wild fruit, and a single adult Asian elephant can eat well over 100 kilograms of vegetation a day. Isolated on Borneo for hundreds of thousands of years, they evolved a smaller body, proportionally larger ears, a longer tail and straighter tusks than mainland Asian elephants — and a reputation for being relatively placid.

## Threats and human conflict
As plantations replace forest, elephants increasingly cross into farmland and oil-palm estates to feed, trampling and raiding crops. The resulting conflict can be lethal: elephants are sometimes shot, snared or poisoned, and high-profile poisoning cases in Sabah have drawn international attention. Additional pressures include poaching for tusks, mining, and collisions with vehicles on plantation and logging roads. With so few breeding adults left, every animal lost to conflict matters to the subspecies' survival.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/borneo-pygmy-elephant): Borneo Pygmy Elephant — wildlife guide.

## What rescue and recovery involve
Protecting Borneo's elephants means keeping forest connected and keeping people and elephants apart safely. Conservation work centres on wildlife corridors that link the three remaining core habitat blocks through plantation country, electric fencing and early-warning systems to reduce crop raids, rapid-response teams to move elephants out of danger, and the rescue and rehabilitation of injured or orphaned animals. Because so much of the range sits inside working plantations, durable solutions depend on local rangers, sanctuaries and community partners on the ground in Sabah and Kalimantan.

## WARN work
Both of the Borneo pygmy elephant's range states, Malaysia and Indonesia, are among the countries where our network funds local partners. Rather than running our own operations, WARN CIC is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation that channels support to vetted local shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams — exactly the kind of frontline groups that respond to injured elephants, run anti-conflict patrols and rehabilitate orphaned calves in Sabah and Kalimantan. Our focus is funding those partners and raising public awareness; on-the-ground rescue and release is always led by the local experts who know these forests.

## Donation hook
With only about 1,000 left, every Borneo pygmy elephant counts — your gift helps fund the local rescue teams and sanctuaries in Sabah and Kalimantan that keep these forest giants and the people near them safe.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/borneo-pygmy-elephant): Borneo Pygmy Elephant — wildlife guide.

## How many Borneo pygmy elephants are left?
About 1,000 remain in the wild according to the IUCN's 2024 assessment, of which roughly 400 are breeding adults. Almost all live in Sabah, Malaysia, with a small population in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

## Why is the Borneo pygmy elephant the smallest elephant?
Isolated on the island of Borneo for hundreds of thousands of years, the population evolved a smaller body along with proportionally larger ears, a longer tail and straighter tusks — making it the smallest of all elephant subspecies.

## How big is a Borneo pygmy elephant?
Adults generally stand around 2.5 to 3 metres (about 8 to 10 feet) at the shoulder. They are noticeably smaller and rounder than mainland Asian elephants, though large bulls can still weigh several tonnes.

## What do Borneo pygmy elephants eat?
They are herbivores that feed mainly on grasses, plus leaves, bark, roots, shoots and wild fruit. A single adult Asian elephant can consume well over 100 kilograms of plant matter a day.

## Are Borneo pygmy elephants dangerous?
They are wild animals and can be dangerous if threatened or crowded, especially mothers with calves, but the subspecies is generally considered more placid than other elephants. Most serious conflict happens when elephants and people are forced together by habitat loss.

## How long do Borneo pygmy elephants live, and what is a baby called?
Asian elephants typically live into their mid-50s in the wild. A baby is called a calf, born after a gestation of about 22 months — among the longest pregnancies of any land animal — and is raised by the whole herd.

## Where do borneo pygmy elephants live?
Borneo Pygmy Elephants live in Malaysia, Indonesia. A Borneo pygmy elephant is the smallest subspecies of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis), native to the island of Borneo in Sabah, Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia; the IUCN listed it as Endangered in 2024 with about 1,000 left in the wild.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pink-river-dolphin): Pink River Dolphin — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), also called the boto or Amazon river dolphin, is a freshwater toothed whale native to the Amazon and Orinoco river systems of South America. It is the largest river dolphin, named for the pink colouring adults often develop, and is classed as Endangered by the IUCN.

## Introduction
The pink river dolphin, or boto, is a freshwater toothed whale found only in the rivers and seasonally flooded forests of South America. Famous for the rosy blush adult males develop, it is the largest of the world's river dolphins and a keystone predator of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. The IUCN lists it as Endangered, with numbers falling fast under pressure from gillnet bycatch, deliberate killing for fish bait and mercury pollution from gold mining.

## Takeaway
The pink river dolphin is the largest freshwater dolphin on Earth, reaching about 2.5 m and up to roughly 185 kg.

## Takeaway
Adults, especially males, turn pink — the colour comes largely from scar tissue built up through rough play and fighting, intensified by exertion.

## Takeaway
Unfused neck vertebrae let it turn its head nearly 90 degrees to hunt fish among submerged tree roots in the flooded forest.

## Takeaway
It is Endangered (IUCN, 2018), with a long-term study in a protected reserve recording an annual decline of about 5.5%.

## Takeaway
Main threats are drowning in gillnets, deliberate killing for use as catfish bait, and mercury contamination from illegal gold mining.

## Takeaway
There is no reliable rangewide population estimate; numbers are thought to run into the tens of thousands but are decreasing.

## Why it is endangered
Once thought to be naturally protected by local taboos, the boto is now in steep decline across much of its range. A 22-year monitoring study in Brazil's Mamiraua Reserve — one of the better-protected parts of its range — recorded the population falling by roughly 5.5% every year, a rate fast enough to halve numbers within little more than a decade. On the strength of evidence like this, the IUCN reclassified the species as Endangered in 2018, having previously listed it as Data Deficient. Because the dolphins are spread thinly across vast, hard-to-survey river networks, there is no trustworthy global population figure — the honest answer is that no one knows exactly how many remain, only that the trend is downward.

## Behaviour and ecology
Botos are superbly adapted to murky, obstacle-filled freshwater. They navigate and hunt by echolocation, emitting clicks to find prey in water where eyesight is almost useless. Their stocky bodies carry a low ridge rather than a tall dorsal fin, and uniquely flexible, unfused neck vertebrae let them twist and reach into flooded forest to take fish, river turtles, crabs and even small caimans — one of the widest diets of any toothed whale. During the annual flood season they swim among the trees, dispersing through the forest before returning to main river channels as waters fall. Calves are born singly after about an 11-month gestation, measuring around 80 cm, and stay with their mothers for a year or more.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pink-river-dolphin): Pink River Dolphin — wildlife guide.

## Threats
The boto's decline is overwhelmingly human-driven. Many drown after becoming entangled in nylon gillnets, while others are deliberately harpooned to be used as bait for piracatinga, a scavenging catfish. Layered on top is mercury pollution: illegal gold mining releases the metal into rivers, where it accumulates up the food chain into these long-lived top predators. Dams fragment populations and block movement, and extreme events tied to a warming climate add new dangers — in 2023, scores of botos died in a single Amazon lake during a record drought and heatwave. Together these pressures make the freshwater habitat itself the front line for the species' survival.

## What rescue and protection involve
Protecting botos is mostly about protecting rivers and the people who share them. Practical work includes removing or modifying deadly gillnets, supporting fishers to abandon the bait-hunting trade, monitoring mercury levels, responding to stranded or entangled animals, and safeguarding key stretches of flooded forest. Because the dolphins cross national borders, lasting gains depend on locally led teams who know the waterways and can build trust with riverside communities — the kind of frontline partners that conservation funders increasingly back rather than parachuting in from outside.

## WARN work
WARN CIC is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation that funds local partner shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams across its partner network. The pink river dolphin's range spans six South American countries, but two of them — Brazil and Colombia — sit squarely within WARN's funded focus. There, WARN's model is to channel support to in-country partners working on river-dolphin safety: reducing gillnet bycatch, discouraging the bait-hunting trade and protecting flooded-forest habitat. Across the wider Amazon and Orinoco basins, WARN's contribution is education and awareness, amplifying the work of those closest to the water rather than overstating a presence it does not have.

## Donation hook
Botos live or die by the health of their rivers. A gift to WARN helps fund the local partners in Brazil and Colombia working to clear deadly gillnets and protect the flooded forests these pink dolphins call home.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pink-river-dolphin): Pink River Dolphin — wildlife guide.

## Are pink river dolphins dangerous to humans?
No. Botos are not considered dangerous to people. They are curious and sometimes approach boats, and steep in local Amazon folklore, but there are no records of them harming humans.

## How many pink river dolphins are left?
There is no reliable rangewide count. Numbers are thought to run into the tens of thousands, but monitoring shows the population is declining — by about 5.5% a year in one well-studied protected reserve.

## Why are pink river dolphins pink?
Adults, especially males, develop a pink tone largely from scar tissue built up through rough social play and fighting; the flush can deepen with exertion and warmer water.

## What is a baby pink river dolphin called?
A young pink river dolphin is called a calf. Mothers give birth to a single calf, about 80 cm long, after a gestation of roughly 11 months.

## Where do pink river dolphins live?
Pink River Dolphins live in Brazil, Colombia. A pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), also called the boto or Amazon river dolphin, is a freshwater toothed whale native to the Amazon and Orinoco river systems of South America.

## What do pink river dolphins eat?
They have one of the most varied diets of any toothed whale — more than 50 species of fish, plus river turtles, freshwater crabs and occasionally small caimans, located by echolocation in murky water.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/hyacinth-macaw): Hyacinth Macaw — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A Hyacinth Macaw is the world's largest flying parrot — a roughly one-metre-long, cobalt-blue bird from central South America, especially Brazil's Pantanal, that uses its powerful beak to crack hard palm nuts; it is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

## Introduction
The Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) is the world's largest flying parrot, a metre-long bird wrapped in brilliant cobalt-blue plumage and marked with vivid yellow around the eye and lower beak. Native to central South America, it is a palm-nut specialist whose stronghold is Brazil's Pantanal wetlands. The IUCN classifies it as Vulnerable, with habitat loss, wildfire and historic trapping for the pet trade as its main threats.

## Takeaway
At around one metre from head to tail, the Hyacinth Macaw is the longest parrot species and the largest macaw in the world.

## Takeaway
Its core stronghold is Brazil's Pantanal, the planet's largest tropical wetland, with smaller populations in the Cerrado and eastern Amazon fringe.

## Takeaway
It is a palm-nut specialist, relying heavily on acuri and bocaiuva palm nuts that few other animals can crack.

## Takeaway
In the Pantanal it nests almost exclusively in cavities of the manduvi tree, making it dependent on a single tree species for breeding.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable with roughly 4,300 mature individuals and a declining trend (assessed 2021).

## Takeaway
Trapping for the cage-bird trade once devastated wild numbers; today habitat loss and wildfire are the leading pressures.

## Why it is threatened
The Hyacinth Macaw was pushed to a low of an estimated few thousand birds in the late 1980s, largely by intense trapping for the international cage-bird trade. CITES Appendix I protection and on-the-ground nest monitoring helped numbers recover, and in 2014 the species was downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable. But the recovery remains fragile. The IUCN's 2021 assessment estimates around 4,300 mature individuals and a decreasing population trend. The catastrophic Pantanal fires of 2020, which burned roughly a quarter of the wetland, destroyed nesting trees and roosts and prompted Brazilian authorities to reassess the species as Endangered at the national level, even as its global status stays Vulnerable.

## Behaviour and ecology
This is a long-lived, slow-breeding bird: pairs raise only one or two eggs per clutch, incubation lasts roughly a month, and chicks do not fledge until around 110 days. Birds typically reach breeding age at about seven years and can live for several decades. The macaw's enormous beak is built for one job above all — cracking the rock-hard nuts of acuri and bocaiuva palms, a food source almost no competitor can exploit. In the Pantanal it depends heavily on the soft-cored manduvi tree (Sterculia apetala) for nest cavities, a tight ecological link that makes both breeding success and palm availability central to the species' survival.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/hyacinth-macaw): Hyacinth Macaw — wildlife guide.

## Range and habitat
Hyacinth Macaws survive in three broadly separated regions of central South America. By far the largest is the Pantanal of south-western Brazil, extending into eastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay, which holds most of the world's population. Smaller numbers occur in the dry Cerrado woodlands and gallery forests of eastern Brazil and along the southern fringe of the Amazon basin. The birds favour palm savannas, seasonally flooded grasslands and forest edges where their food palms and nesting trees grow — landscapes increasingly fragmented by cattle ranching, agriculture and fire.

## What rescue and recovery involve
Protecting Hyacinth Macaws is less about hands-on rehabilitation and more about safeguarding nests, trees and habitat. Effective work includes monitoring and protecting manduvi nest cavities, installing artificial nest boxes where natural ones are scarce, planting and protecting food and nesting palms, partnering with ranchers to reduce fire and habitat loss, and confiscating and rehabilitating birds taken illegally for the pet trade. Because the species breeds slowly, every successfully fledged chick matters, and long-term field monitoring is essential to track whether populations are holding or slipping.

## WARN work
Brazil is one of the countries where the World Animal Rescue Network (WARN) channels donations to local partner shelters, sanctuaries and field rescue teams, so the Hyacinth Macaw sits squarely within our funded focus. WARN CIC is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation: rather than running its own facilities, it raises funds for vetted Brazilian partners working on wildlife protection and trafficking response, and supports wider public education about the cage-bird trade that once devastated this species. Most of the macaw's range lies in the Pantanal, and we are honest that protecting it depends on the local experts and reserves our partners support on the ground.

## Donation hook
A gift to WARN helps fund the Brazilian partners protecting the Pantanal's nesting trees and confronting the wildlife trade — the practical, local work that keeps the world's largest flying parrot in the sky.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/hyacinth-macaw): Hyacinth Macaw — wildlife guide.

## How big is a Hyacinth Macaw?
It is the largest flying parrot in the world, reaching about one metre (3 ft 3 in) from the top of its head to the tip of its tail and weighing roughly 1.2 to 1.7 kg.

## How long do Hyacinth Macaws live?
They are long-lived birds. In the wild they commonly live around 30 to 50 years, and individuals in captivity have been recorded living over 50 years.

## What do Hyacinth Macaws eat?
They are palm-nut specialists. Their diet is dominated by the hard nuts of acuri and bocaiuva palms, which their powerful beaks can crack, along with other nuts, seeds and fruit.

## How many Hyacinth Macaws are left?
The IUCN's 2021 assessment estimates around 4,300 mature individuals (roughly 6,500 birds in total), with a declining population trend. Most live in Brazil's Pantanal.

## Why is the Hyacinth Macaw endangered or vulnerable?
Historic trapping for the pet trade caused steep declines; today the main threats are habitat loss from ranching and agriculture, plus severe wildfires such as the 2020 Pantanal fires that destroyed nesting trees. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable.

## Are Hyacinth Macaws dangerous?
They are not aggressive toward people by nature, but their beak is among the most powerful of any parrot — strong enough to crack hard palm nuts and even coconuts — so a bite can cause serious injury.

## What is a baby Hyacinth Macaw called?
A young macaw is called a chick (and a nestling or fledgling as it grows). A group of macaws is generally called a flock.

## Where do hyacinth macaws live?
Hyacinth Macaws live in Brazil. A Hyacinth Macaw is the world's largest flying parrot — a roughly one-metre-long, cobalt-blue bird from central South America, especially Brazil's Pantanal, that uses its powerful beak to crack hard palm nuts; it is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/sloth): Sloth — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A sloth is a slow-moving, leaf-eating mammal that lives hanging upside down in the trees of Central and South American rainforests. There are six living species in two groups, the three-toed sloths (Bradypus) and two-toed sloths (Choloepus), and they are the slowest mammals on Earth.

## Introduction
Sloths are slow-moving, tree-dwelling mammals of Central and South American rainforests, split into two living groups: three-toed sloths (genus Bradypus) and two-toed sloths (genus Choloepus). They spend almost their entire lives hanging upside down in the canopy, digesting leaves at one of the lowest metabolic rates of any mammal. Most of the six living species are still widespread, but two are threatened and the pet trade and road deaths put growing pressure on populations in countries such as Brazil and Colombia.

## Takeaway
"Sloth" covers six living species in two genera: three-toed sloths (Bradypus, four species) and two-toed sloths (Choloepus, two species).

## Takeaway
They are the slowest mammals on Earth, with a metabolism only 40-45% of what is expected for their size, an adaptation to a low-energy leaf diet.

## Takeaway
Their fur hosts symbiotic green algae and specialised sloth moths, giving older animals a greenish tinge that aids camouflage.

## Takeaway
Most sloth species are Least Concern, but the maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus) is Endangered and the pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus) is Critically Endangered.

## Takeaway
In Brazil and Colombia, the main pressures are Atlantic Forest loss, the illegal pet trade, and road and power-line deaths.

## Takeaway
Despite their slowness in trees, sloths are surprisingly capable swimmers and can hold their breath for long periods.

## What a sloth is and how it lives
Sloths belong to the order Pilosa, the same group as anteaters, and form the suborder Folivora ("leaf-eaters"). Six living species are recognised, divided between the three-toed sloths of the genus Bradypus and the two-toed sloths of the genus Choloepus. Despite the common names, all sloths have three toes on their hind limbs; the difference is in the forelimbs, where three-toed sloths have three front claws and two-toed sloths have two. They spend almost their whole lives suspended in the rainforest canopy, gripping branches with long, curved claws, and descend to the ground only about once a week, usually to defecate. Their leaf-heavy diet yields very little energy, so sloths conserve it through low body temperatures, long digestion times, and minimal movement.

## Behaviour, ecology and the algae in their fur
A sloth's slowness is its survival strategy. Moving little makes it almost invisible to predators such as harpy eagles and big cats that hunt by detecting movement. Their coarse outer fur grows the opposite way to most mammals, running from belly to back so rain sheds off while they hang upside down, and it provides a home for symbiotic green algae and specialised sloth moths. The algae can give the coat a greenish cast that improves camouflage and may even offer a minor nutritional supplement. Three-toed sloths are almost entirely leaf-eaters, while two-toed sloths are more omnivorous, also taking fruit and occasionally small animals. Both groups are surprisingly strong swimmers, using their long arms to cross rivers far faster than they ever move on land.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/sloth): Sloth — wildlife guide.

## Why some sloths are threatened
At the group level sloths are not assessed as a single unit, and four of the six living species are listed as Least Concern. The picture is far more serious for two species. The maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus), endemic to Brazil's heavily fragmented Atlantic Forest, is assessed as Endangered, with a small and declining area of suitable forest. The pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus) is Critically Endangered, restricted to a single tiny island off Panama with an estimated population of only a few hundred to a few thousand animals. Across the wider range, habitat loss, the illegal pet trade, electrocution on power lines, and road traffic are recurring threats, particularly where forest meets expanding towns and farmland.

## What sloth rescue involves
Rescue and rehabilitation work focuses on animals orphaned, injured, or seized from the illegal pet trade, as well as those electrocuted on power lines or hit by vehicles where forest is fragmented. Care is slow and specialised: sloths need precise diets, careful handling of stress-prone infants, and gradual reconditioning before any release into protected forest. Longer-term protection depends on keeping forest connected, installing wildlife crossings and insulating power lines, and reducing demand for sloths as pets and tourist photo props. Because so much sloth habitat lies in countries with limited conservation funding, local shelters and rescue teams are often the front line.

## WARN work
The World Animal Rescue Network (WARN CIC) is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation that funds local partner shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams rather than running its own facilities. Two of WARN's focus countries, Brazil and Colombia, sit squarely within the sloth's range, where partners take in animals orphaned by deforestation, injured on roads and power lines, or confiscated from the illegal pet trade. WARN's funded focus is on supporting that hands-on local care, while its wider role is education and awareness, helping people understand why a wild sloth should never be kept as a pet or used as a tourist prop. WARN is honest that several sloth species also live beyond WARN's partner network, where its contribution is information and advocacy rather than direct funding.

## Donation hook
A donation to WARN helps fund the local partner shelters in Brazil and Colombia that rescue, treat and rehome sloths orphaned by deforestation or taken from the illegal pet trade.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/sloth): Sloth — wildlife guide.

## How long do sloths live?
In human care, sloths typically live around 16 years, and some two-toed sloths have reached their 30s and 40s, with one recorded near 50. Reliable lifespans in the wild are not well documented but are thought to be shorter.

## What do sloths eat?
Sloths are mainly folivores, eating leaves, buds and shoots. Three-toed sloths eat almost only leaves, while two-toed sloths are more omnivorous and also take fruit and occasionally insects or small animals.

## How big are sloths?
Most sloths are roughly 50 to 75 cm (about 20 to 30 inches) long. Two-toed sloths usually weigh about 4 to 9 kg (9 to 20 lb); three-toed sloths are a little smaller, generally around 3.5 to 6 kg.

## Are sloths dangerous?
Sloths are not aggressive toward people and pose little danger, but they are wild animals with long, sharp claws and strong teeth that can inflict serious wounds if they feel threatened. They should never be handled as pets or for photos.

## How many sloths are left?
There is no single reliable total because "sloth" covers six species. Most are still widespread, but the pygmy three-toed sloth numbers only a few hundred to a few thousand on one island, and the maned sloth is Endangered with a small, declining range in Brazil.

## What is a baby sloth called and how are sloths grouped?
A baby sloth is called a cub or pup, born singly after a long gestation. Sloths are mostly solitary and have no widely used collective noun, though informal terms such as a "bed" of sloths are sometimes used.

## Where do sloths live?
Sloths live in Brazil, Colombia. A sloth is a slow-moving, leaf-eating mammal that lives hanging upside down in the trees of Central and South American rainforests.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/capybara): Capybara — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A capybara is the world's largest rodent, a semi-aquatic, plant-eating mammal native to South America that can weigh up to about 65 kilograms (140 pounds) and lives in social groups near rivers, lakes and wetlands.

## Introduction
The capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is the largest living rodent on Earth, a barrel-bodied, semi-aquatic mammal native to the wetlands, rivers and flooded grasslands of South America. Highly social, it lives in groups that graze on grasses and aquatic plants and dives into water to escape predators. Though listed by the IUCN as Least Concern across its wide range, capybaras are still heavily hunted for meat and hide in some regions and caught up in the exotic-pet trade.

## Takeaway
The capybara is the largest rodent in the world, with big adults reaching around 1.3 m long and up to roughly 65 kg.

## Takeaway
It is semi-aquatic: webbed feet make it a strong swimmer, and it can stay submerged for up to about five minutes to hide from predators.

## Takeaway
Capybaras are highly social, living in groups of around 10-20 animals (occasionally up to 50-100 in the dry season).

## Takeaway
They are herbivores that graze on grasses and aquatic plants, and like other rodents have continuously growing teeth.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern with a stable population, but local populations decline where hunting and habitat loss are intense.

## Takeaway
Main pressures are hunting for meat and hide, wetland habitat loss to agriculture, and capture for the exotic-pet trade.

## Behaviour and ecology
Capybaras are built for life around water. Their eyes, ears and nostrils sit high on the head so they can stay alert while mostly submerged, and partially webbed feet make them powerful swimmers that can stay underwater for several minutes to escape jaguars, caimans, anacondas and eagles. They are social grazers, feeding mainly on grasses and aquatic plants during cooler parts of the day and wallowing in water through the midday heat. Groups are typically led by a dominant male and structured around females and young; like other caviids they communicate with a range of barks, whistles, purrs and clicks. As bulk grass-eaters they practice coprophagy (re-ingesting their own droppings) to extract more nutrients from fibrous plants.

## Reproduction and young
Capybaras can breed year-round where conditions are good, often peaking with the rains. After a gestation of roughly 130-150 days, a female gives birth to a litter that averages about four pups but can range from one to eight. The young are precocial — born well-developed, eyes open and able to walk, swim and nibble vegetation within hours — and are often cared for communally, nursing from several females in the group. In the wild many capybaras live only a few years because of heavy predation, though survivors and captive animals can reach roughly 8-12 years.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/capybara): Capybara — wildlife guide.

## Conservation status and threats
Across its large South American range the capybara is assessed by the IUCN as Least Concern, with a population that is large, widely distributed and overall stable. That headline can be misleading at the local scale: the species is hunted intensively for its meat and leather in parts of its range, and some local populations have been depleted by over-hunting and by the draining and conversion of wetlands for agriculture and cattle. Capybaras are also captured for the exotic-pet trade. The species is not listed on the CITES appendices, so international trade is not controlled at the species level — meaning local management and habitat protection do most of the conservation work.

## What rescue and protection involve
Protecting capybaras is mostly about protecting wetlands and managing hunting sustainably rather than captive breeding. On-the-ground work includes safeguarding rivers, lakes and seasonally flooded grasslands, reducing illegal and unsustainable hunting, rehabilitating animals seized from the pet trade, and easing conflict where capybaras graze on farmland. Because the species shares its wetlands with many others — fish, caimans, water birds and aquatic plants — keeping capybara habitat healthy benefits whole ecosystems, which is why habitat-focused conservation is the most effective lever for this species.

## WARN work
WARN CIC is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation that funds local partner shelters, sanctuaries and rescue teams rather than running its own facilities. Two of WARN's partner-network countries — Brazil and Colombia — fall squarely within the capybara's range, so the species sits inside the network's funded focus. WARN's role is to channel support to vetted local partners working on wetland protection, humane handling of animals rescued from the pet trade, and human-wildlife conflict in those countries, alongside wider public education about why this iconic wetland giant matters. We are careful not to overstate scale: this is partner-funded, community-led work, with WARN providing funding and search-and-education reach rather than direct field operations.

## Donation hook
Across Brazil and Colombia, healthy wetlands are what keep capybaras — and the rivers, birds and fish around them — thriving. A gift to WARN helps fund the local partners protecting that habitat and caring for animals rescued from the pet trade in the capybara's home range.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/capybara): Capybara — wildlife guide.

## How long do capybaras live?
In the wild capybaras often live only a few years because of heavy predation, but survivors can reach roughly 8-10 years, and animals in captivity may live up to about 12 years.

## What do capybaras eat?
Capybaras are herbivores. They graze mainly on grasses and aquatic plants, and also eat fruit and bark; like other rodents they re-ingest their own droppings to extract more nutrients from fibrous plant material.

## How big do capybaras get?
A large adult capybara can reach about 1.3 metres (over 4 feet) in body length and weigh up to roughly 65 kg (about 140 pounds), making it the heaviest rodent in the world.

## Are capybaras dangerous to humans?
Capybaras are generally calm, non-aggressive herbivores and rarely a threat to people, though like any large wild animal they can bite with their large incisors if cornered, handled or provoked.

## How many capybaras are left in the wild?
There is no single reliable global population count, but the IUCN considers the species widespread and abundant with a stable overall population, which is why it is listed as Least Concern.

## What is a baby capybara called?
A baby capybara is called a pup. Pups are born well-developed and can walk, swim and nibble plants within hours of birth, and are often cared for by several females in the group.

## Where do capybaras live?
Capybaras are semi-aquatic rodents native to the wetlands, rivers and flooded grasslands of South America, including Brazil and Colombia within WARN's partner network. Highly social, they live in groups of around 10–20 animals near water and dive in to escape predators.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/proboscis-monkey): Proboscis Monkey — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
A proboscis monkey is a large, reddish-brown Old World monkey found only on the island of Borneo (in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei), famous for the male's oversized hanging nose and for living in coastal mangrove and riverside forests; the IUCN classes it as Endangered.

## Introduction
The proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) is a large, reddish-brown leaf-eating monkey endemic to the island of Borneo, instantly recognised by the male's huge drooping nose and round pot belly. It clings to coastal mangroves, peat-swamp forests and riverbanks, where it is one of the most accomplished swimmers among all primates. With forests cleared for oil palm and timber, the IUCN lists it as Endangered, and it is protected under CITES Appendix I.

## Takeaway
Proboscis monkeys are endemic to Borneo, shared by Indonesia (Kalimantan), Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) and Brunei - they live nowhere else in the wild.

## Takeaway
The IUCN Red List classifies the species as Endangered (assessed 2020), and it is listed on CITES Appendix I, the strictest trade protection.

## Takeaway
Males are far larger than females and grow an enormous pendulous nose; females and young have smaller, upturned noses.

## Takeaway
They are mangrove and riverside specialists and among the most aquatic monkeys, able to swim and even cross rivers underwater.

## Takeaway
Their diet is mostly leaves, unripe fruit and seeds, digested by a chambered, ruminant-like stomach full of fermenting bacteria.

## Takeaway
The main threats are habitat loss to oil-palm plantations, logging and coastal development, plus hunting in parts of the range.

## Why the proboscis monkey is Endangered
The proboscis monkey's fate is tied directly to Borneo's lowland forests. Because it depends on mangroves, peat-swamp forest and riverbank vegetation - exactly the flat, water-rich land that is easiest to drain and convert - it has lost huge areas of habitat to oil-palm plantations, logging, shrimp farming and coastal development. The IUCN estimates the population has fallen by more than 50% over roughly the last 40 years (about three generations) and lists the species as Endangered, with fewer than an estimated 7,000 mature individuals remaining across a highly fragmented range. Surviving groups are increasingly cut off from one another along single rivers, which makes local populations vulnerable to disturbance, hunting and isolation.

## Behaviour and ecology
Proboscis monkeys live in a flexible, fission-fusion society: typically one dominant male with a group of females and young, plus separate bachelor bands of males, which gather and split along the same stretch of river. They are highly arboreal but also remarkable swimmers - one of the few primates with partial webbing between the fingers and toes - and will leap from branches into rivers and swim across, sometimes underwater, to escape predators such as crocodiles or to reach feeding trees. Their bulging bellies house a specialised, multi-chambered stomach where bacteria ferment tough leaves, similar to a cow's digestion, allowing them to live on foliage, unripe fruit and seeds that other monkeys cannot process.