Those species of wildlife, that is, those plants, animals, birds or insects which are facing the threat of extinction, are termed as endangered species. According to International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 450 species of flora and fauna come under endangered category.
IUCN has divided the endangered species into three categories critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable.
1. Critically Endangered:
Those species face a very high risk of extinction in the near future. They are put in the Red list. In India, the Sumatran rhinoceros, the fruit bat and the large spotted civet are included in this list.
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2. Endangered:
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This species is not critically endangered but faces risk of extinction. For example, Asian elephant, tiger, Ganges river dolphin, chiru, snow leopard and lion-tailed macaque.
3. Vulnerable:
The vulnerable species are those species, which have the potential of becoming endangered under certain adverse conditions, such as climatic change, hunting, deforestation, population explosion and pollution. In India, this list includes the Asiatic black bear, Assamese macaque, sloth bear, Nilgiri leaf monkey, and flying fox and Himalayan giant squirrel.
There are other categories of wildlife too. Endemic species are wildlife species constituting native flora and fauna that are native, or prevalent or peculiar to a particular region or country (that is, these species are not found anywhere else in the world but only in that region or country mentioned).
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In India, the golden langoor, Indian wild ass, chiru and the pygmy hog are considered endemic. Exotic species are wildlife constituting flora and fauna from another country or region. Wildlife also includes some rare species, which are endemic and are found in very low numbers or are confined too much selected areas.