Conservation status sources
Conservation-status sources tell you how threatened a species is — and, separately, whether its international trade is regulated. The key skill is reading them carefully: statuses are assessments that change over time, and trade listings are not the same as extinction risk.
The IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List is the most widely used global source for species conservation assessments, with documented categories (such as Least Concern, Vulnerable, Endangered) and criteria. It is the reference FaunaHub points to most often. Two caveats matter: not every species has been assessed, and categories are reviewed and can change. We therefore attribute a status to the Red List and describe it as changeable rather than permanent.
CITES — trade context, not a status
CITES is an intergovernmental agreement that regulates international trade in listed species across its appendices. It is the right reference for whether trade in a species is controlled — but a CITES appendix is a regulatory tool, not a measure of how close a species is to extinction. Treating “CITES-listed” as if it were an IUCN category is a common mistake we avoid. CITES details are also legal matters: for what is actually permitted, the relevant authority is the right source, and this page is not legal advice.
National and group-specific assessments
Beyond global assessments, national and regional agencies and specialist bodies publish their own evaluations, which can differ from the global picture. FaunaHub draws on sources such as AmphibiaWeb, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, CITES — Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, BirdLife International where they are relevant, and notes when a status applies to a particular population or region rather than the whole species.
Why we avoid permanent statements
Because assessments change, FaunaHub avoids phrasing like “is endangered” as a fixed fact. Instead we say a species is “assessed by the IUCN as” a category and suggest checking the current Red List page. This keeps the site honest as listings are updated and prevents an out-of-date label from lingering as if it were permanent.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a conservation status permanent?
- No. Conservation assessments are revised as new data and review cycles come in, so a species can move between categories over time. FaunaHub attributes statuses to their source and treats them as changeable, pointing readers to the current assessment for the latest listing.
- Is CITES the same as the IUCN Red List?
- No. The IUCN Red List assesses extinction risk, while CITES is an international agreement about regulating trade. A species can be listed by CITES for trade reasons without that telling you its IUCN category, and vice versa. They answer different questions and should not be treated as interchangeable.
- Does FaunaHub give legal advice about protected species?
- No. FaunaHub describes conservation context in general educational terms only. Questions about what is legally permitted — trade, ownership, or handling of protected species — must go to the relevant official agency, not to a summary page.
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