A field catalog, not a pet shop
These animals are running out of room
Look up the animal you just heard of. You get a photograph, the status Wikidata records, and a dossier adapted from Wikipedia and Wikidata. Confirm the official assessment on iucnredlist.org.
Catalog pages on 10 November 2026, by the IUCN category recorded on Wikidata when the catalog was built. These are pages, not counts of living animals.
Is it legal to own one?
Raccoon, fox, monkey, tiger, axolotl, hedgehog: whether you can keep one depends on your state, and the rules are rarely where you would guess. We read each state's law for 27 popular exotic pets and link the rule behind every answer. A state we could not confirm says so instead of reading as allowed.
Exotic pet laws by state Legality checker Raccoon Monkey Fox Axolotl Big cat
Start with these
CRVaquita
CRJavan rhinoceros
CRSumatran orangutan
CRAxolotl
CRKakapo
CRHawksbill sea turtle
CRCalifornia condor
CRSaola
CRYangtze giant softshell turtle
ENAfrican wild dog
CRChinese pangolin
EWSpix's Macaw
Why the crisis
- Interactive world map of country pins
- Counts by status and class
- Compare two records
- Open a random species
- What “in crisis” means on this site
- How to read an IUCN assessment
- Habitat loss, on the ground
- Bycatch: the animal that was not the target
- Wildlife trade, not a pet listing
- Extinct in the Wild, on the ground
- When a pet puts a native species in crisis
- CITES and the pet trade
- The 2026 ESA take directive, explained
- Can you keep a bog turtle as a pet?
- When scientists split a species
- H.R. 9436 and North Atlantic right whales
- The Big Cat Public Safety Act, explained
- How many rhinos are left in 2026?
- The 2026 shark executive order and CITES
- How far African wild dogs travel
Quick answers
- What is Creatures in Crisis?
- A photographed catalog of animals Wikidata records as Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Extinct in the Wild, plus a small US exotic-pet legality checker where the pet trade overlaps that list.
- Is this the IUCN Red List?
- No. Status here is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Official assessments live at iucnredlist.org.
- How many animals are listed?
- 3,318 animals with a Commons photograph and a CR, EN, or EW category on Wikidata. The count is pages, not living individuals.
- Which IUCN categories are included?
- Critically Endangered, Endangered, and Extinct in the Wild. Vulnerable and lower categories are outside this catalog.
- Can I keep one as a pet?
- Usually no, and often that is the point. Use the legality checker for the few species people actually try to keep.
- Are you a charity?
- No. We do not take donations. Contact: hello@creaturesincrisis.org.