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Extinction in biology, the dying out or extermination of a species. Extinction occurs when species are diminished because of environmental forces (habitat fragmentation, global change, natural disaster, overexploitation of species for human use) or because of evolutionary changes in their members (genetic inbreeding, poor reproduction, decline in population numbers).
An endangered species is a species which has been categorized as very likely to become extinct in the future. Endangered (EN) as categorized by the International Union for conservation of nature (IUCN) red list, is the second most severe conservation status for wild populations in the IUCN's schema after critically endangered (CR). In 2012, the IUCN red list featured 3,079 species as endangered (EN) worldwide. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species for example, for bidding hunting, restricting land development or creating protected areas. |
