BIAZA (the British and Irish zoo federation) has released a top 10 list of the world's most endangered species that would not be surviving without the help of conservation. And they are: Amur leopard – fewer than 45 of these big cats left in the wild Blue-crowned laughingthrush – only 250 mature birds of this Chinese species left in the wild Mountain chicken frog – one of the world’s largest species of frog and critically endangered Ploughshare tortoise – one of the most threatened and sought after reptiles in the illegal pet trade Blue-eyed black lemur – this lemur is critically endangered due to large scale habitat loss and hunting Verdcourt's polyalthia tree – this critically endangered species has only been found in three locations in the Kilombero valley in Tanzania Scimitar-horned oryx – this antelope is extinct in the wild and dependent on captive breeding White-clawed crayfish – around 95% of the population of Britain’s only native freshwater crayfish have been lost Polynesian tree snail – 11 species of Polynesian tree snails are extinct in the wild Potosi pupfish – this freshwater fish is extinct in the wild The list was lifted direct from the article. Ten most endangered species list highlights importance of zoos 'working to save' animals from extinction - World - News - Evening Standard
White-clawed Crayfish I knew there was a high percentage wipe out of these due to the invasion and plague carried by the red signal crayfish, but 95% is really shocking, that is literally ecologically extinct. Also the increase of the reds is having a dramatic effect on fish eggs with less and less fry being caught in the samples taken yearly (the reds love munching the fish eggs). With fish being pretty much top of the food chain in UK freshwater streams and rivers, a drop in population of fish would drastically change the general ecology of many water ways.