It is estimated that, over the past 500 years, approximately 1,500 animal species have disappeared from Earth, from the tiny dyeing poison frog from Central America to the huge aurochs that roamed European forests until the seventeenth century.

Species extinction continues today: the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists almost 30,000 immediately or potentially endangered animals in its latest Red List, and this number increases every year.

With the aid of over 500 spectacular photographs, informative charts, and detailed maps, this book portrays numerous endangered animal species form all over the world, among them the basking shark, the poison-dart frog, the Indian gharial, the southern royal albatross, and the gorilla.