ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

IUCN Red List

The IUCN Red List is a big, important list that scientists make to help us understand how much danger different types of plants and animals are in. It’s like a list of all the different species in the world, and it tells us which ones are doing well and which ones are in trouble.

Every year, scientists add new species to the list and update the statuses of existing ones based on research and observations. They look at things like population size, how much their habitat is changing, and how much they're being hunted or fished.

The list has different categories to help us understand how endangered a species is. If a species is doing well and doesn’t have any major threats, it’s considered "least concern." But if a species is at risk of going extinct, it can be classified as "vulnerable," "endangered," "critically endangered," "extinct in the wild," or "extinct."

The goal of the IUCN Red List is to help us understand which plants and animals need our help the most. By looking at the list, we can see which species need more protection and conservation efforts to keep them from disappearing forever.