By: Jazzlyn Beltran
September 22, 2026
Unfortunately there are many critically endangered species today and in case you don’t know what those circumstances are; Species considered critically endangered are any with a population decrease of 80 to 90 percent or more in the past ten years or 3 generations depending on which comes first. Also if a species has less than 250 mature individuals, or if a species is only found in an area smaller than 10 square kilometers. Of course there are other things scientists look for to tell if a species is critically endangered; those are just some of the few. About 28% of all assessed species are at risk of extinction, which is about over 49,500 out of 175,900 species that the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List has assessed. And those aren’t even all the species in the world; scientists estimate there are millions more species that haven’t been assessed. So imagine how many are going extinct that we don’t even know about.
Species are becoming endangered for many reasons, like pollution, invasive species, habitat loss, climate change, overexploitation, and diseases. These are mostly due to human activity. But why does it matter? Well, it’s not like the bees are just there for decoration. Every animal plays a part in ecosystems; without predators, prey, or even invasive species could overpopulate. Bees, bats, and butterflies help with pollination, and some crops depend on pollination so without them, certain fruits and vegetables would become rarer and when there's less of something, then the price goes up. Then animals that might depend on pollinated plants could decrease in population. Not only are bees, bats, and butterflies endangered but many other species like polar bears, green sea turtles, and bumblebees who are affected by climate change. Or like tigers, red pandas, lemurs, and orangutans, who are affected by habitat loss.
The Endangered Species Act makes hunting or taking any species listed as endangered, illegal. Some things you could do to help are to avoid using pesticides and herbicides, recycle, and not buy anything made of an endangered species. That includes fur or skin from animals, coral, and turtle shells.
Have you noticed that stores like Target or Walmart changed to paper bags? Some states have banned single-use plastic checkout bags and have replaced them with either paper bags or thicker reusable plastic ones. Since plastic sometimes ends up in the ocean, this is better for the environment because it helps reduce ocean litter, entanglement, or accidental ingestion. The threat of extinction is expected to get worse, and it would definitely take a massive amount of effort to lower the risk of species going extinct.
