Stories
On the Brink: Five Rare Animals Hanging on by Just a Handful of Survivors
M
Moneycontrol•07-10-2026, 11:51
On the Brink: Five Rare Animals Hanging on by Just a Handful of Survivors
- •The northern white rhino is critically endangered with only two females left, Najin and Fatu, living under armed protection at Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy after the last male died in 2018.
- •The vaquita in Mexico's Gulf of California is the world's rarest marine mammal, with an estimated population of only about 10 individuals remaining due to accidental drowning in illegal gillnets.
- •New Zealand's kākāpō is a flightless, nocturnal, and critically endangered parrot whose recovery is severely hampered by a slow reproductive cycle that only occurs every two to four years.
- •The Yangtze giant softshell turtle faces an extraordinary reproductive dead end with only two known males left alive and no known females remaining following the death of the last female in 2023.
- •Māui dolphins are New Zealand endemics with an estimated population of around 54 individuals, threatened by late sexual maturity, slow breeding rates, and human activities like fishing and mining.
Key Questions Answered
The northern white rhino population has dwindled to only two surviving females, named Najin and Fatu, after the last male named Sudan died in March 2018. This left the subspecies with no natural way to reproduce.
The species faces an extraordinary reproductive dead end because only two known individuals remain and the last known female died in 2023. With no surviving females left, natural reproduction is no longer possible.
The biggest threat to the vaquita is accidental drowning from getting trapped in gillnets used to catch other fish, including nets tied to illegal fishing. These critically endangered marine mammals are estimated to have only about 10 individuals remaining.
