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Critically endangered species of India

Conservation efforts often focus on large and charismatic animals such as the tiger and elephant that are undoubtedly in urgent need of protection. Hwever, there are a host of species that do not rank very high on the conservation totem pole, although they are also under great threat and are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Critically endangered is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN red list to wild species. There are five quantitative criteria to determine whether a taxon is threatened. Critically endangered means that the natural population of a species has decreased, or will decrease, by 80% within three generations, and all the available evidence indicates an extremely high risk of its extinction in the wild.

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