Top 20 Extraordinary Rare Animals

The Florida panther, aside from being an NHL team, is a subspecies of the common cougar. Separated from the general pack, the panthers made their own ecological niche in the Florida everglades, and are the only known breeding population of cougars in the Eastern U.S. However, that very nearly ended 30 years ago. Hunting and habitat loss drove the already inconspicuous panthers into obscurity, with only 20 mature individuals existing in the wild in the 1970s. With so few left, the gene pool was weak, so reproduction was unsuccessful or problematic. Fearing a total annihilation, scientists mixed healthy Texan cougars into the population, which improved the genetic diversity and jump started breeding. Today, there are an estimated 180 Florida panthers in the wild, and the species remains critically endangered.

Famous for its yellowish-green plumage and distinct owl-like appearance, the kākāpō is the world’s only flightless parrot. It has called New Zealand home for centuries and holds high esteem in Māori culture and mythology. It was even voted New Zealand’s bird of the year in 2008 and 2020. While this nocturnal bird was once one of New Zealand’s most common animals, the arrival of European settlers in the mid-1800s led to a drastic reduction in numbers. Initial conservation efforts were largely unsuccessful, but the 1995 Kakapo Recovery Programme helped preserve these nocturnal birds, especially in New Zealand’s smaller islands. In recent years, kākāpō numbers increased from around 116 individuals in 2018 to 244 in 2024.

Also known as the ploughshare tortoise, the angonoka is one of the rarest land tortoises and reptiles in the world. Deforestation, poaching, and climate change have all contributed to the angonoka’s critically endangered status. Conservation efforts are underway, particularly in the tortoise’s home of Baly Baly in Northwestern Madagascar. These efforts focus in large part on preventing the abduction and trafficking of the angonoka on the black market. Sadly, they have had to rely on some rather drastic measures including defacing the shells of the tortoises to make them less captivating for potential kidnappers. It’s not clear how many ploughshare tortoises are left, but some estimates have fewer than 200 remaining in the wild.

With its luminescent scales, large eyes, and lobed fins, the 6-foot, 200-pound coelacanth looks like a creature from the world of Jules Verne. The truth is even more unique. The coelacanth was widely thought to be extinct until 1938, when a South African farmer happened to catch one in his nets. This earned it the nickname of “Living Fossil,” There are two known subspecies of coelacanth, both found in the Indian Ocean. The Indonesian coelacanth surrounds the islands of Indonesia and is classified as a vulnerable species. The West Indian Ocean coelacanth is native to the Comoro Islands off East Africa and is listed as critically endangered, with an estimated fewer than 500 still alive.

Reaching 18 feet long and swimming at depths of 500 feet, the nightmare-inducing megamouth shark lived in total secrecy until its 1976 discovery. The animal had become entangled in the anchor of a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Hawaii, and its eventual examination resulted in a collective cheer for scientists, as few late-20th century discoveries had been so monumental. Including the original, there had been only 61 confirmed specimens of the megamouth found as of January 2015. And catching them on video is even MORE rare – just three have been videotaped in the wild.

The island of Sumatra is home to a diverse ecosystem of wildlife. Tigers and elephants roam the ground alongside nearly 100 amphibians that call the island home, while one of the world’s rarest great apes lurks up in the trees. The Tapanuli orangutan was identified as a separate species in 2017, just in time to be classified as critically endangered. There are an estimated less than 800 individuals left with a decreasing population threatened by hunting, habitat destruction, and inbreeding. Their neighbor to the north, the Sumatran orangutan, is also classified as critically endangered, but is doing a bit better with around 6,600 individuals found in the wild.

This magnificent wildcat prowls the jungles of Eastern Russia and Northern China. It is known for having a paler and much thicker coat compared to its African counterpart: a necessity for survival in the harsh winters of its home. The Amur leopard is one of the rarest cats in the world and, like almost everything else on this list, it is threatened by poaching, habitat loss, and deforestation. Conservation efforts have been ongoing for years and have found some success in increasing the number of leopards. As of 2023, there are an estimated 130 Amur leopards remaining.

This large, long-billed bird once occupied a giant slab of the Middle East, inhabiting dozens of countries on multiple continents – but that is far from the current case. The birds endured regional extinction; first in Europe, then in countries like Sudan, Turkey, Israel, and most recently Syria, and now they are limited to one natural breeding population in Morocco. Hunting, disease, and habitat loss brought the population down to somewhere near 200 to 250, but captive breeding has since doubled that number. Breeding and reintroduction programs are giving the birds a fighting chance, and with luck they could take back a small chunk of their former range.

Gorillas have captivated our hearts and minds ever since Tarzan swung onto our screens in 1995. Unfortunately, this has been of little help to the Cross River gorilla’s quest for survival. Living in fragmented forests in West Africa, it has been described as similar to its Western lowland counterpart, albeit slightly smaller. The Cross River gorilla has the unfortunate honor of being the world’s rarest great ape with an estimated fewer than 250 individuals left. Conservation efforts have been underway for a long time, particularly in Cameroon and Nigeria where the gorillas reside. These include efforts to reduce hunting and the opening of various reserves and parks for the gorillas to thrive.

For hundreds of years, the skies of Brazil were graced by bright blue parrots with a distinctive call and eyes ringed with gray skin. The first Spix’s macaw was collected in 1819 in northeastern Brazil, but by the 1980s, it was clear that dramatic action was needed. The macaw’s vibrant plumage had proven an attractive target for illegal animal traffickers. This poaching, along with colonization-driven habitat loss, drew the macaw to near extinction levels. It was bad enough that the macaw made it onto an episode of “Law & Order: SVU.” In 2019, the Spix’s macaw was classified as extinct in the wild. However, conservation and captive breeding programs have led to the gradual re-release of these birds back into nature.

Discovered on a small Panamanian island in 2001, the pygmy three-toed sloth has one of the smallest habitat ranges of any mammal. The entire species lives in a 1.7-square-mile area of the island, roosting exclusively in the red mangrove trees. Being the victim of insular dwarfism and a genetic bottleneck, the sloths split from their original population when the island split from the mainland, and so became a genetically independent species whose isolation and limited range decreased their size and survivability. There are an estimated 79 dwarf sloths left on the island, and the species is categorized as critically endangered – and critically adorable.

Coming in hot at one inch long with bulbous eyes and striped, yellow flesh is the Kihansi spray toad. The toad is notably one of the few live-bearing amphibians. It once boasted a population of 17,000 strong, found only in a tiny area at the base of the Kihansi waterfall. Unfortunately, though, it has been declared extinct in the wild after being last sighted in 2004, primarily due to habitat loss and disease. Don’t fret though – you still have the opportunity to pay this insectivore a visit in one of various zoos in the U.S. or Tanzania. There have also been recent efforts to re-introduce the Kihansi spray toad back to its rightful habitat in the wild.

The vaquita is a species of small porpoise that resides in the Gulf of California. It is considered the “world’s most rare marine mammal” due to its tiny geographic range and serious loss in population from commercial fishing methods like gill netting. In 1997, just over 500 vaquitas were thought to be left in the world; by 2014 that number was 100, and by 2016 there were estimated to be as few as 60 – with accidental netting accounting for the annual 20 percent drop in population. It’s estimated that within five years’ time, the intelligent and serene vaquita will be completely extinct – that is unless a miracle conservation effort is made.

As one of the rarest land mammals in the world, the Northern hairy-nosed wombat exists in an area of just over one square mile in Queensland, Northeast Australia. With a range that once encompassed hundreds of thousands of miles, the wombat’s demise seems almost apocalyptic. That’s not quite the case, as there are dozens of natural reasons for its decimation, though diseases like mange and toxoplasmosis are accountable. Fortunately for the cute marsupials, serious conservation efforts were undertaken, which increased the population from 30 in the 1970s to over 200 today. But, there’s still a long way to go.

This North American canine is among other things, surprisingly not that red; instead, its coat usually falls somewhere in the tawny to gray range. The red wolf’s habitat once extended all the way from central Texas through North Carolina and up to the eastern Canadian coast. Over the years, though, it faced a tragic cornucopia of factors, from coyotes to habitat loss to poaching that decimated its population. Efforts to save the wolf were kickstarted after Richard Nixon signed the 1973 Endangered Species Act into law. As of 2024, it is estimated there are only 17 red wolves remaining in the wild and another 250 or so in captivity across various breeding facilities.

One of the smallest of the five living rhinoceros species, the Javan rhino’s habitat once stretched across Southeast Asia. Now it is only found in a miniscule area in the island of Java’s western region. The Javan rhino’s keratin horn, though shorter and blunter than that of other rhinos, made it a valuable target to poachers and it is now critically endangered. In fact, the last accurate headcount from 2019 had only 18 individuals remaining. Conservation efforts are hindered by the fact that Javan rhinos haven’t historically prospered in captivity. Its cousin, the Sumatran rhino, has fared a bit better but is also critically endangered, with an estimated fewer than 80 individuals remaining.

Occupying the lightless abyss of the deepest oceans, the giant squid is a legend for its rarity. For thousands of years, people reported tentacle sea monsters, and it wasn’t until 1857 that the monsters’ true identity was revealed. A zoologist named Japetus Steenstrup studied dead specimens and made the first formal classification of the animal, calling it the giant squid. After such a revelation, the search was on to document a live one, but we had to wait another 150 years. By the turn of the 21st century, the giant squid remained the only known large animal to have never been photographed alive. That changed in 2002 when a squid was caught and photographed near the surface, and 10 years later the first video of a giant squid in its natural habitat was taken. To this day, that remains the only wild giant squid we’ve ever seen in motion.

As another example of island segregation, the black-crested-gibbon inhabits the Hainan Island off the coast of China. Unlike the pygmy three-toed sloth, the gibbons managed to thrive on their own, reaching a dense and stable population of 2,000 during the 1950s. However, deforestation in the form of rubber and paper harvesting has decreased the population so severely that the gibbons are in the midst of an existential emergency. Fewer than 30 gibbons were found in the latest census, meaning there likely aren’t enough individuals for the species to propagate naturally. They’ll either die from genetic degradation, or human ingenuity will save the world’s rarest primate. We hope it’s the latter.

The Yangtze softshell turtle is so rare, in fact, that none exist in the wild. This cannot be 100% confirmed, of course, but the last wild sighting was in 1998, and it hasn’t been for lack of trying. As the name says, this turtle made its home in the Yangtze River in Asia, a heavily disturbed and polluted river that has claimed its share of species, including the now-extinct Yangtze River dolphin. Considered the largest freshwater turtle in the world, the giant softshell has been pushed to the edge of existence through hunting, poisoning, and habitat destruction. Just three individuals are left on the planet, and attempted breeding has thus far been futile.


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Once Extinct in the Wild, There Are Now Around 561 of These Vultures in the United States

Also Called the Asian Unicorn, It Is One of the Rarest Land Mammals

There Are Only Around 20 of This Incredibly Rare Insect, Once Believed to Be Extinct

Thought to Be Extinct Until 1990, There Are Now 500 to 600 Adult Jamaican Iguanas

Living in Asia’s Highest Mountains, There’s Only a Few Thousand of This Mysterious Cat Left

This exceedingly rare creature has not been seen in over fifty years, with the last known individual retreating into the snowy forests of upstate Maine out of sheer despair.


Just kidding, back to Africa we go!

Meet Najin and Fatu. This mother-daughter duo lives in Kenya’s OI Pejeta Conservancy, protected by armed guards and looked after by loving conservationists. They are the last two northern white rhinos on the planet. Once upon a time, the northern white rhino happily roamed the African plains, but decades of poaching drove it to the brink. It was declared extinct in the wild in 2008 and by 2015, there were only three left. Tragically, the last male northern white rhino, Najin’s father Sudan, passed away in 2018, making the species functionally extinct. Research has been ongoing for many years in the hope of birthing new northern white rhinos using IVF and artificial insemination. Here’s hoping they pull it off.

Which rare animal would you love to see in person? Let us know in the comments below.