One of the most famous and easily recognized animals in the world, the Giant Panda is also one of the most endangered. Scarcely, 1,000 individuals are believed to survive in the wild - in central and south-western China - with another 140 animals in zoos across the world.

Habitat loss and poaching are the major dangers, and because the panda has a very slow reproductive cycle, it takes a long time for populations to recover. Females usually give birth to two cubs, one of which survives and stays with the mother for up to three years. In a lifetime, a female may raise 5 - 8 cubs.

A Pandas diet is almost exclusively bamboo, occassionally supplemented by other grasses and small rodents. Its digestive system is ill-equipped to digest the fibrous bamboo efficiently, so it has to spend most of its days foraging and eating. An elongated wrist bone with a fleshy pad of skin forms a functional but awkward thumb which is used to grasp the stems, and strong teeth then crush them into a more digestible pulp.

Pandas were once thought to be solitary creatures. However, new evidence suggests that small social groups may form outside the breeding season. These well-loved animals are the focus of much detailed research, always aimed at preserving the species. Recent research into in-vitro fertilization of pandas may help in the battle to prevent extinction.

Habitat: High-elevation broadleaf forests with bamboo understorey

Food: Bamboo

Life Span: 35 Years

Status: Critically Endangered

Breeding: 1 cub born every 3 - 4 years

How You Can Help:

http://support.wwf.org.uk/index.php?page=shop&pid=1

Black Rhinoceroses are one of Africa’s most famous and impressive wild inhabitants. Large, fearsome and with few natural enemies, they should be facing a secure future, but changes in land use, war, civil unrest and poverty continue to threaten their security.

Although the Black Rhinos horns are used in Chinese medicine, it is the ivory trade that has had the biggest impact on its numbers - especially the popularity of ceremonial daggers called jambiyas. Trade in rhino horn has been illegal since 1977, and this well-known species is now beginning to recover in much of its range, thanks to careful management and the strict enforcement of legal protection. Yet poverty continues to tempt poachers, and remaining black rhinoceros populations are secure only in a fraction of their former territory, in protected reserves in Kenya, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Habitat: Scrubland and woody savannah

Food: Twigs and leaves

Life Span: Can exceed 45 years in captivity

Status: Critically Endangered

Breeding: Single calf born every 2-5 years

How You Can Help:

http://www.blackrhino.org/nhow_to_help.htm

http://support.wwf.org.uk/index.php?page=shop&pid=7

(As this specie is so critically endangered, I could not find a photo of it in its natural habitat, or at least a photo where it isnt strung out of water or being held up by an ignorant smiling prick, so this will have to do.)

Vaquitas live in the upper area of the Gulf of California, near the mouth of the Colorado River. No other marine mammal has such a small range, and consequently Vaquitas are extremely rare and may become extinct. Vaquitas used to be able to swim up into the mouth of the Colorado. However, in recent years so much water has been removed from the river for irrigation and for supplying cities that the Colorado is little more than a trickle where it reaches the ocean. This has probably changed the composition of the Gulf waters, too. The Vaquita population was also affected by the fishing industry in the Gulf. Fishermen drowned many Vaquitas in their nets by accident, and their activies have also reduced the amount of fish available for porpoises to eat.

Biologists know little about the lives of these porpoises. Vaquitas probably spend most of their time alone, locating their prey close to the sea floor using echolocation. Births probably take place all year round.

Habitat: Coastal waters and mouth of the Colorado River

Food: Fish and squid

Life Span: Unknown

Status: Critically Endangered

Breeding: Probably 1 calf

If you are interested in finding out how you can help to save this beautiful specie, then check out this link: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/cetaceans/about/vaquita/