It seems that the efforts of conservationists and environmentalists these past years have gone to naught. According to a latest report from the World Conservation Union or IUCN, there are presently 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List. Of that number, there are 16,306 species threatened with extinction which is more than the 16,118 species recorded last year.

The environmental community continue to be alarmed with the increasing number of species being added to the IUCN Red List and the blatant disregard of man in conserving them. Even though it seems inevitable, conservationists are still dreading the time when they have to add another specie to the list of extinct ones which has reached 785 this year especially with 65 other species which are now only found in captivity or in cultivation.

Some new additions in this year's IUCN Red List of Threatened Species includes ocean corals, a first in IUCN history. After a comprehensive study of marine life, they were able to conclude that three species of corals that are only unique to the Galapagos Islands are soon to be extinct.

The Floreana coral (Tubastraea floreana) and Wellington's solitary coral (Rhizopsammia wellingtoni) was labeled by the by the IUCN as Critically Endangered. Meanwhile, the third one, the Polycyathus isabela has been listed as a Vulnerable specie. Other new inclusion into the The Red List includes 74 Galapagos seaweeds, or macro-algae.

From the ocean floor to the jungles and mountains, it seems the same story everywhere we go. For instance, the Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) was moved from the list of Endangered species to the list of the Critically Endangered. Researchers have found out that the population of the main subspecies, the Western Lowland Gorilla, were reduced by as much as 60% in the past 20-25 years due to continued bushmeat trade and the Ebola virus.

Meanwhile, the story of last November's fruitless search for the Yangtze River Dolphin or Baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) might have reached your ears. The previously listed Critically Endangered Baiji is now being considered as Possibly Extinct due to the lack of sightings. The breeding program that was intended to repopulate the Baiji might have come too late.

Birds are also unable to fly away from the effects of habitat loss, industrialization, and lack of food. Three species of African vultures were reclassified. The White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) which was previously listed as Least Concern is now in the Vulnerable list. The White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) and Rüppell's Griffon (Gyps rueppellii) moved from Least Concern to Near Threatened.

There are eight categories in the IUCN Red List. The first is Date Deficient which describes species that have no evaluation due to lack of data and information. The next category is the Least Concern which means the species have been evaluated and found out to have a low risk of being extinct. The next one is the Near Threatened category. This third category refers to creatures that are already on the threshold of being threatened unless conservation measures are employed.

The Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable categories are basically indicating the same: a certain specie is already threatened by extinction. The final two categories are Extinct and Extinct in the Wild. The latter one is when a specie is known only to survive in captivity or cultivation, the former is when there is no reasonable doubt that the last of its kind has died.