Top 10 Rarest Animals In The World

Animals are loved by nearly everyone in the world, yet humans are the biggest threat to their survival. Every single one of the animals on this list is not only rare, but also critically endangered or “just” endangered. The low population of these rare animals is primarily due to habitat loss, hunting, or accidental death caused by human activities.

1) Vaquita: The Vaquita is currently the rarest animal in the world, and quite possibly the most endangered, with only about 10 individuals left in the wild. That estimate comes from a report published by the IUCN in early 2019 that stated that only about 10 vaquitas remained alive in 2018, as per an acoustic monitoring program conducted in the Gulf, though there is a 95% chance they number between 6 and 22. Since the Vaquita was first discovered in 1958, its numbers have always been pretty low. Vaquitas are the smallest species of porpoise and easily get caught in gillnets (nets that catch fish by their gills) used by illegal fishing operations. Also Vaquitas have such a small population because they are only found in one area of the world, the northern part of the Gulf of California. Additionally, there are no Vaquita in captivity and there is currently no successful breeding program to help bring their numbers back up.