---
title: "Critically Endangered Animals | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "The IUCN Red List category immediately before extinction in the wild. Populations are small enough that individual animals matter to the total."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/status/critically-endangered/"
---

# Critically Endangered Animals

> The IUCN Red List category immediately before extinction in the wild. Populations are small enough that individual animals matter to the total.

**18 species in this collection.**

- [Amur Leopard](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/amur-leopard/) (*Panthera pardus orientalis*)
  - **Superpower**: Thick fur that grows up to 7.5 centimeters long in winter, and a leap of 20 feet across or 10 feet high.
  - **Musical Match**: Harakiri for the Sky (Blackgaze & Atmospheric Post-Metal)
- [Axolotl](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/axolotl/) (*Ambystoma mexicanum*)
  - **Superpower**: Regrows whole limbs, its tail and spinal cord, and parts of its heart and brain; heals deep skin wounds without a scar; keeps its larval gills as a breeding adult
  - **Musical Match**: Anamanaguchi & Hatsune Miku (Hyperpop & Kawaii Future Bass)
- [Beluga Sturgeon](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/beluga-sturgeon/) (*Huso huso*)
  - **Superpower**: A giant sturgeon that mostly hunts open-water fish, with spawning migrations recorded at over 2,500 km
  - **Musical Match**: Led Zeppelin (Classic Hard Rock & Southern Blues)
- [Black Rhinoceros](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/black-rhino/) (*Diceros bicornis*)
  - **Superpower**: A hooked, prehensile upper lip that grabs plants and guides them into its mouth.
  - **Musical Match**: Bolt Thrower (Brutal Death Metal & Heavy Groove)
- [Bornean Orangutan](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bornean-orangutan/) (*Pongo pygmaeus*)
  - **Superpower**: Long arms that help it travel through the canopy, and hands and feet that can both grasp
  - **Musical Match**: Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Psychedelic Rock & Neo-Psych)
- [Coelacanth](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/coelacanth/) (*Latimeria chalumnae*)
  - **Superpower**: Fleshy, lobed fins whose front and back pairs move in a diagonal rhythm, like the legs of a four-legged land animal.
  - **Musical Match**: Ahab (Sludge Metal & Abyssal Doom)
- [Cuban Crocodile](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/cuban-crocodile/) (*Crocodylus rhombifer*)
  - **Superpower**: Leaps from the water on thrusts of its tail to grab birds and mammals off overhanging branches, and on land can break into the asymmetrical gaits that include galloping and bounding
  - **Musical Match**: The Skatalites (First Wave Ska & Caribbean Rocksteady)
- [European Eel](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/european-eel/) (*Anguilla anguilla*)
  - **Superpower**: Swims 5,000 to 10,000 km across the Atlantic to spawn
  - **Musical Match**: Kali Malone (Glacial Ambient & Drone Soundscapes)
- [Gharial](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/gharial/) (*Gavialis gangeticus*)
  - **Superpower**: Up to 110 razor-sharp teeth, a low-drag slashing strike, and a male's ghara that buzzes as he exhales
  - **Musical Match**: The Mars Volta (Psychedelic Rock & Neo-Psych)
- [Giant Clam](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giant-clam/) (*Tridacna gigas*)
  - **Superpower**: Hosts billions of algae in its own tissues and gets the majority of its nutrients from them
  - **Musical Match**: Hiroshi Yoshimura (Glacial Ambient & Drone Soundscapes)
- [Great Hammerhead Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/great-hammerhead/) (*Sphyrna mokarran*)
  - **Superpower**: Ampullae of Lorenzini, gel-filled pores under its head that sense the electrical signals of prey, even prey buried in sand.
  - **Musical Match**: Bicep (Future Garage & Deep Electronica)
- [Harlequin Poison Frog](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/harlequin-poison-frog/) (*Oophaga histrionica*)
  - **Superpower**: Skin toxins collected from its prey, able to repel or even kill a small predator
  - **Musical Match**: Systema Solar (Latin Psychedelic Cumbia & Tropicalia)
- [Kakapo (Owl Parrot)](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/kakapo/) (*Strigops habroptilus*)
  - **Superpower**: Mottled moss-green camouflage, a freeze-in-place defence, and a booming courtship call heard up to 5 kilometres away in ideal conditions.
  - **Musical Match**: DJ Lag (Afrobeats & Modern Amapiano)
- [Red Abalone](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/red-abalone/) (*Haliotis rufescens*)
  - **Superpower**: Clamps its shell down onto the rock, and the strength of its muscle makes it extremely difficult to detach.
  - **Musical Match**: Caroline Shaw (Neo-Classical & Baroque Chamber)
- [Scalloped Hammerhead](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/scalloped-hammerhead/) (*Sphyrna lewini*)
  - **Superpower**: A wide, notched head with electroreceptors on its underside. It appears to sense a weak electric field no better than a sandbar shark does, but seems to give a wider search area and sharp turns at high speed.
  - **Musical Match**: LTJ Bukem (Drum & Bass / Spatial Jungle)
- [Staghorn Coral](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/staghorn-coral/) (*Acropora cervicornis*)
  - **Superpower**: Grows up to 8 inches of branch a year, and broken pieces re-attach to start new colonies
  - **Musical Match**: Goldie (Drum & Bass / Precision Jungle)
- [Sunda Pangolin](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/sunda-pangolin/) (*Manis javanica*)
  - **Superpower**: Overlapping, sharp-tipped scales, and a well-developed neuromuscular system that curls it into a ball over its scaleless belly
  - **Musical Match**: 1000mods (Heavy Psych & Desert Rock)
- [Vaquita](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/vaquita/) (*Phocoena sinus*)
  - **Superpower**: Nearly continuous echolocation clicks that acoustic detectors can pick up
  - **Musical Match**: Autechre (IDM & Glitch Ambient Synthesis)

Conservation categories are from the [IUCN Red List of Threatened Species](https://www.iucnredlist.org/). AnimalTracks is independent of IUCN.