Generally, an endangered species is an organism in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth if its situation is not improved. When its race has not been seen in the wild for over fifty years, we say that it is extinct. Those species that may soon become endangered are called threatened species. Rare animals are species with small populations that may also be at risk.

In the United States of America, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was created to protect endangered species and the habitats on which they depend. The main causes of species extinction or endangerment are habitat destruction, commercial exploitation (such as plant collecting, hunting, and trade in animal parts), damage caused by non-native plants and animals introduced into an area, and pollution. Of these causes, direct habitat destruction endangers the most species. Many organisms have already been wiped out.
The only certain thing is that we must act quickly. Once endangered species become extinct, they are gone FOREVER.

ENDANGERED SPECIES ORGANIZATIONS

WWF- World Wildlife Fund
CITES- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature
WCS-Wildlife Conservation Society
NWF- National Wildlife Federation
CBSG- The Conservation Breeding Specialists Group
Defenders of Wildlife
Environmental Defense Fund, Inc.
Greenpeace USA, Inc.
National Geographic Society
Wildlife Preservation Trust International, Inc.
The Wilderness Society

15 ENDANGERED SPECIES FACTS
1) 95% of all species that ever existed are now extinct.
2) Over the last 400 years, at least one kind of mammal or bird has disappeared from the earth every year.
3) In the 1980s, about 8,500 square miles of forest were burned away every year .
4) There are only 7,500 Komodo dragons left.
5) Fewer than 1,000 pandas remain on earth.
6) There are no more than 200 Siberian tigers left in the wild.
7) On the island of Madagascar, the forest is disappearing so fast that it may no longer exist in 30 years.
8) From 1950-1980 at least 3 million Nile crocodiles were killed for their skins.
9) In the 1980s, about 500 elephants were killed every week.
10) Every year a total of 900 million birds are killed for sport.
11) Two-thirds of the tropical forests of Central America have been cut down.
12) We have the power to make their future safer.
13) Wildlife cannot survive without natural habitats.
14) Efforts to save wildlife from extinction started more than a century ago.

"Evolution has shown us that nothing ever stays the same: continents drift across the oceans, jungles turn into deserts, and dinosaurs make way for silky anteaters. And where the wind and the sun once dictated the course of evolution, the near future of this planet resides in the mind and action of man. The balancing of and the struggle between greed, compassion, fear, and intelligence will now determine the destiny of all life on Earth."
-Charles Lynn Bragg

"Living species today, let us remember, are the end products of twenty million centuries of evolution; absolutely nothing can be done when the species has finally gone, when the last pair has died out."
-Sir Peter Scott