An Ape, A Coral Polyp, A Vulture, And A Dolphin Walk Into A Bar...

But the bar is called the Red List, and it's not a place you wanna be seen in. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN or more commonly known as the World Conservation Union) is the world’s largest conservation network and creators of the Red List. The Union is comprised of 83 States, 110 government agencies, more than 800 NGOs, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a worldwide partnership.

The Union’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. The IUCN maintains a Red List of species whose status is designated as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable. Today, the IUCN redlisted apes, vultures, and dolphins as threatened with extinction. For the first time, corals have joined the Red List. Check out Ove Hoegh-Guldberg over at Climate Shifts for an excellent summary.

For context, there are now 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List and 16,306 of them are threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year.